Shattered Life
by Nazran
Summary: Danny lost everything but helped Raven gain everything back.a bond formed.Danny went back to Jump 1yr later and is dragged into matters with the Titans. will they brave the darkness or fall to familiar forces more powerful than ever.RxD fullsummaryinside
1. Shattered Life

_**A/N:**__this is the first story I have written for this particular fandom. I have written other stories, mostly for Harry Potter, but never posted them and as such I would appreciate any__constructive criticism__anyone who reads this can offer. Also, anyone who wishes to see something specific in this story happen I will try to write it in (I am writing this story with no set outline or anything, just going with the flow)._

_**Full Summary:**__during the events of the Disastroid Danny was dragged through a portal in the Ghost Zone coming out in Jump City, just as Raven faced Slade in the 'Prophecy' episode. Danny helped her and inadvertently formed a bond with her. Losing everything when he got back to the transfer device Danny resolved to help Raven against what was going to happen and so he did. Now he is back in Jump City a year later and he runs into the Teen Titans again. old and familiar opponents re-enter the lives of the Titans and Danny. with so much on the line and so much changing will they face the darkness or be consumed in pain._

**_DISCLAIMER:_**_** For this and all future chapter planned or not**: no monetary gain is being made from this work. No copy right infringement is intended through this work; all publicly recognizable elements remain the exclusive property of their respective owners. _

_**Chapter 1: Shattered Life**_

* * *

_He was thrown roughly from another portal to the Ghost Zone skidding to a stop on the cold ice. He looked up slowly from the ground still bruised and beaten from the fight moments beforehand and froze . . ._

_There below the tower connected to the transfer cables for the ecto-amplifier was the command center for the operation, filled with his loved ones; mom, dad, sister, Sam, Tucker, Valerie. But gazing into the window he saw something impossible his family and everyone he knew from Amity Park was stone, literally they were statues. And even as he stared dumbstruck a large piece of the recently pasted Disastroid slammed into the Ops Center and took it down in a mass of green tinge flames and smoke._

_There were no screams except those of the tearing metal and no gasps except for billowing flames. As the tower began to topple the hundreds of stunned ghosts realized what was happening and flew away from it, most landing behind him. Skulker, the unofficial leader, strode forward from behind him and gripped his shoulder._

"_Ghost-child . . ."_

"_Go! Get out of here! Get away from me!" the scream tore from his raw throat as tears streamed across his face._

_The softest expression that had ever appeared on Skulker's robotic visage faded and it became hard and unfeeling once again. "Fine whelp, we will leave and give some peace. But know this we will be back and your pelt will adorn my wall." Slowly the ghosts retreated once more to the dimension where they spent their eternal afterlife._

_He glided forward toward the wreckage stopping when he reached the base of the pile. Two rings of light appeared at his waist and slowly they travelled upward revealing the human half of Danny Phantom, Danny Fenton. At this point though he didn't care, if someone saw so be it everything he loved was gone crushed by giant chunk of anti-ghost element._

_Danny crawled through the rubble, ignoring the intense heat and searing metal. And in the center of the field of pain was the rock, underneath which lay the ruins of danny's life. He crept around it, stumbling and tripping in his delirium, his foot caught and he tumbled to the ground._

_Slowly, painstakingly slowly like everything else, his vision cleared and into focus came the stone face of his older sister Jazz. She had no body and half of her previously lively face was gone shorn by the metal surrounding them. He stared for a long time pain and grief surging through his body, and then the sky cleared. The darkness that had overtaken it faded and in an instant all of the stone became flesh again._

_Danny screamed . . ._

Danny Fenton, 17 year old homeless Danny Fenton awoke abruptly with a cry. It was the dream again. Now only a year old memory yet that day still haunted him. It was the day he had lost everything; the day pain had destroyed his life and the day when he had had a major role in saving the world as Danny Phantom.

But that was history, while still haunted Danny hadn't 'Gone Ghost' in months. He abandoned that part of his life, along with everything else. The pain had been too much for him to handle so he destroyed his life. After the disaster, Danny had returned to Amity Park, the town empty since those survivors of the impact were still hospitalized. He had gone to Fenton Works, to his parents lab and cleared it all.

Nothing was left in the home of the Fentons. Every blueprint and book had gone every ghost weapon, every memory. Danny had even gone so far as to overload the Ghost Portal's software shutting it down permanently, it had only had physical damage before. He loaded everything he could carry into two white duffle bags and left his home, torching what he couldn't take.

For the last eleven months and however many days he had wondered the country, but never again did he step foot in Oregon. Now he was in Jump City again, but he didn't plan on staying more than a few days. He was always surprised at how large the city was, it was far more immense than he had ever imagined, especially for what was considered to be a young city.

This city had a hero too but there was more than one; the Teen Titans, teenage heroes and heroine. That was the sum of all of his knowledge about them, they were teens and they were world renown.

He had met them before, or at least one of them, Raven the one from Azarath. But that had been before, before the impact but not by much, he didn't like to think about it. He had helped her and that was why he didn't make it back in time to save Them. After that he had observed them overhearing, things about a prophecy and the end of the world.

Danny had resolved to help, as a last act to help humanity as Danny Phantom before he shut the ghost half of himself down. So he had been in the city waiting and for a month nothing was off but on a beautiful day he saw Robin and Raven watching the sunset.

Someone on the street jostled him awakening Danny Fenton from his reverie. It was late in the day, he had slept long in the alleyway. But usually he slept little anyways, he had slept more than an hour in the last week and it was starting to get to him, hence why he had slept so late.

It was because of his ghost side. After he had regained his powers thanks to the dozens ghosts that had blasted him he was stronger. The most notable thing was his suit changed; the patterns of black and white were different, from the white line across his waist one more ran up each of his his sides along his ribs. The boots that had garbed his feet had become knee high with a black bar down each one on the outside of his calves. A hooded cape, white on the outside and black on the inside sat upon his shoulders. He hated to admit it but his costume was more like Dan's now.

His powers had evolved far faster too. By the time he had helped Raven through the prophecy his ghost sense had reached the point where he could tell what type of ghost, its power and who it was he faced and if he focussed he was able to tell other things about the different creatures he had come in contact with, like Trigon. From his time with Raven it appeared he had developed a ghostly equivalent to her telekinesis magic.

He hadn't used them though; in fact he hadn't encountered a ghost since Skulker had promised a period of peace. Danny knew it was too good to be true, that one of these days they would find a way back through and then his peace would be gone. That day was approaching faster than Danny realized.


	2. A Reconnection

_**A/N:Tell me if you hate it, if it's any good, if I should go die in a hole for writing it whatever I don't care but I would prefer constructive criticism over flames. And tell me what you would like to see from this as well i.e. what should be done with Dani, other villains from both of the series, other secondary pairings, and anything else you might want.**_

_**Oh and I forgot to mention that all of the events in this story will occur after the finales of both series. The titans will be seventeen or eighteen depending on who it is, Beast Boy sixteen, from the first chapter you already know Danny is seventeen. For the episode, Things Change, Beast Boy saw the girl like Terra but the tomb wasn't empty.**_

**Chapter 2: A Reconnection**

* * *

A sharp gasp issued from Danny. And he gazed wide-eyed as the blue tinged mist trickled out of his mouth and rose up into the sky. A ghost! He hadn't seen or heard from any ghosts since . . . well since the impact. He focussed his ghost sense, trying to tell which one it was. Then it hit him.

"Of course it had to be him, didn't it." Danny stated with a sigh to himself.

"Greetings, ghost-child. Are you ready for your pelt sit at my mantle?" Skulker's voice issued forth, echoing across the dank walls of the dark alley.

"Skulker! And just when I was getting used to you guys not being around."

"You've had your peace whelp, now are you going to make this more difficult than it has to be or will you let me take you quickly, painlessly?"

"Skulker, I'm shocked at you. Offering a choice? You're getting soft on me, what happened to 'The Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter?'"

"I'm still here whelp. Now; your decision?"

"Come and get me." Danny clenched his fists and the once familiar rings of light appeared at his waist and travelled in opposite directions changing him from a living breathing human, to a dead, cold, unbreathing spectre. He gritted his teeth and grimaced; it was a lot more painful then he remembered. Of course it had been, at first, almost as bad as the accident in the Ghost Portal when he transformed after first getting the powers. But this, this far beyond that, it was nearly as bad the second time he acquired them, the blast of pure ectoplasm had been a thousand times worse.

Skulker was shocked to say the least. The boy had changed, the banter was still there but it was subdued. Physically he had changed as well, where he used to be built like a board; flat, rectangular, thin, now he was built so much differently; his shoulders were wider, his arms larger, he was all around bigger and more fit.

"Hmm. . . it appears you've been upgraded ghost-child. But so have I." A rather large rectangular block came from the back of Skulker's mechanical suit and fired eight rockets at Danny at once. He almost grinned; it felt good to be back in action again, no matter how much it hurt to remember what had happened. Danny dodged them all at once, easily as if they had never been targeted on him.

Danny shot forward, slamming into Skulker and driving them both out of the alley and into the street. They careened into a building, Skulker enabling his jet pack and rocketing upwards. Danny was stunned for a second, Skulker was fast, but he didn't have time to think about it as ecto-rays rained down him and the pedestrians as they scattered.

A florescent green glowing dome materialized absorbing the rays and keeping Danny preoccupied. The rain of ecto-rays cleared and he dropped the shield only to be tackled by a determined Skulker. They both turned intangible and slipped into the solid asphalt of the street, leaving dozens of stunned passerby.

They became solid again in again in a large cavern of volcanic rock and crashed heavily into the ground. Two curved blades glowing with ectoplasm snapped out of Skulker's wrists as Danny grabbed on to them. Danny's size had increased over the year he was given but Skulker's robotic suit was still had the advantage.

The wrestled, rolling back and forth across the ground, Danny having a hard time fighting him off. A set of the blades bit into the flesh on the top of Danny's shoulder, slicing through the cloak and suit as if it wasn't there. He snarled and curled his legs kicking Skulker back and charged forward desperately trying to end the battle.

Danny's ectoplasm charged fist crumpled the metal chest of the suit and flung Skulker back. Thankful now that he had taken the time to disable most of the functions of one of the Fenton Spectre Deflector belts he unclipped his thermos from it and sucked Skulker in.

A relieved sigh escaped through his lips, no matter how good he used to be that had been more difficult than he had expected it to be. His time was up, they were likely to start hunting him again, that was the only reason ghosts ever came to the 'real' world anymore; to test themselves against him.

He was the anomaly, by all laws of the natural world; Danny should have been killed from his exposure to ectoplasm. But no, he wasn't he had studied everything he could while he could and only came up with the theory of something strange in his DNA. The first time, the accident, ectoplasm had covered his genetic material and made him half ghost. The second time, the concentrated blast of ecto-rays had blended his DNA and the ectoplasm together. This explained the increase in Danny's power and abilities as the melding was far more extensive than before.

He put a hand to his wound and felt the wetness of his blood, rubbing some of it between his fingers seeing the bright green tinge of ectoplasm in the dim light being given off from his body. He could feel a slight tickling sensation as the wound knit itself back together until there would be only a pale line left while in human form.

Danny examined his surroundings and spotted a statue standing upon a high outcrop of rock; a thin girl, hair splayed around her, arms out stretched. He glided up to it setting down on a stretch of rock leading to a tunnel, holding his hand up and lighting it with ectoplasm. The pale green light illuminated a plaque resting on the stone at her feet along with a bouquet of long dead and dried roses.

_**Terra**_

_A Teen Titan_

_A True Friend_

He read. It was a memorial, a tribute to someone who had passed on. The statue was so life like and so detailed that Danny would say that it wasn't made but that the girl had been turned to stone, or encased in it.

Danny froze. He could have sworn he heard something or someone. He heard it again, instantly he became invisible and intangible, throwing the hood on his cloak up. He heard the voices, muffled at first but then clear.

". . . Aww come on Raven, please?" A whiny high pitched voice said.

"No." The dull reply came.

"Why not . . ."

"Shush . . . There's someone in the cavern."

"Who is it?" the expected question was voiced.

"I-I don't know. I recognize the presence but I can't remember where it's from."

"Beast Boy get back here, we don't know what's in there!"

Danny watched as a green boy about his age rushed into the chamber obviously ready to fight. Immediately the green teen went to the statue and examined it but appeared to find nothing wrong.

"Rae, are you sure there's someone in here?" The green one called back into the tunnel.

"Yes, I can sense him."

"Seal the room off Raven." A new voice ordered.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

"Oh shit." Danny muttered under his breath as a black dome expanded over the cavern effectively sealing it shut. Despite doubting it would work Danny tried to fly through the magical barrier, just bouncing of it when he made contact and revealing his position. His invisibility shorted itself out from contact, the magic from the barrier affecting his powers.

The others entered the chamber. Spotting him, everyone froze. All of them except for one were staring at him in confusion. Raven however was in shock; it was him, the one who helped her. He stared back just as stunned, he had never expected to see them again, the only reason he was even in the city was he was going south.

"Titans, Go!"

The green boy, Beast Boy his name was, transformed into some kind of dinosaur, a raptor and charged. Four circular disks slid through the air towards him, along with a blue blast of sonic energy and multiple green ovals of power. Each attack raced towards Danny.

"Well it's worth a shot." He waved his hand and a green shield appeared again. Danny braced for impact, his shields had never stopped any physical attacks before only ecto. The other attacks hit first followed closely by Beast Boy who also slammed into the shield.

Danny opened his eyes and looked to see everything had been stopped and there was not a scratch on him, the shield didn't even look weakened. The Titans stopped; few villains they had ever faced had managed to stand all of that at once.

"Raven! Do something, attack!" The wiry boy with a mask shouted the order.

Only one person moved. Beast Boy now a pterodactyl tried to tackle Danny from the place he floated but he phased right through as if nothing was there, getting a slight chill for his trouble. Raven was still trying desperately to figure out who the hooded person floating, watching her and ignoring the others.

The black dome dropped along with Raven to the floor. She looked up one more time, her violet-blue eyes beneath her hood meeting the glowing green ones beneath Danny's. He inclined his head slightly and drifted up through the ceiling.

"That was most curious, was it not?"

* * *

The door closed shut behind her. Raven was confused; more than confused she was in shock. The figure in Terra's chamber was very, very familiar. He was important; he had a role in her past. Trigon stood forth in her mind.

She had no idea how it was supposed to make her feel; relieved, curious, suspicious, anxious, so many emotions rippling through her body and mind it hurt. He was so . . . mysterious, she wanted to know to him, know who he was, where he came from, what he was. It made her feel even stranger that there were other feelings floating around too; ones that she had never felt for anyone else.

A sharp knocking broke her from her meditation, she had desperately been attempting to retake control of her emotions and calm them before her powers broke free.

"Raven, Raven are you there?"

The door opened a crack, "What?"

"Uh . . . well I was wondering if you are okay. I mean today, something happened didn't it, something to do with that thing that was in the cavern. So I'm asking Rae, who was he?"

"I don't know." She moved to close the door but a hand caught it.

"You know something Rae, now what is it? I'm just trying to help you Raven, let me. Let your friends help you, let me help you, like when you were dealing with Trigon."

Evidently that was the wrong thing to say as with the words 'I'm fine, I don't know anything' the dark girl closed the door. Robin sighed resting his forehead against the door, while she had opened up a little bit after the fall of her father Raven, was still quiet, still mysterious and reclusive.

* * *

"That was . . . interesting." Danny had returned to the alley right away to retrieve the two bags he had dropped. Fortunately they were still there; crime in Jump was considerably less than other cities thanks to the Teen Titans. Thanks to Raven.

He transformed back to human and dropped to the dirty ground of the alley. He sighed. He hadn't expected to see her again. The impact and fighting Trigon had forced Danny to mature fast. He was more aware than he had ever been while he was in Amity Park and he knew that his time in Raven's mind had affected them both.

There was a bond between them, Danny wasn't sure whether Raven knew about it but he knew. It was likely part of the reason he was back in Jump, the bond had subconsciously drawn him back. It was almost like a need, a need to see her, hear her voice, talk to her to be near her.

He shook it off. No time to think about it, he had promised he would stay out of her life, to keep her safe and her friends. It might have seemed pointless but if he had learned anything truly important it was that he couldn't grow close to anyone. No matter what powers and skills they had people around him were always in danger.

Images flashed through his mind; Sam, Tucker, Valerie, his mom, dad, Jazz, they were all gone because he wasn't good enough. Then he was there, Dan, grinning evilly his fangs glinting in an invisible light. The evil future Danny's laugh echoed in his mind.

Danny snapped out it, tears dripping down his face. Even after all this time he still didn't have any idea of whether that future would come to pass or not. His family had died that was one of the pivotal moments that led to that future.

He grabbed the bags, swinging each over one of his shoulders and he continued on. Nightfall found Danny climbing up into a tree in a park for a place to sleep. It wasn't very comfortable but it was safer than in an alley . . . for whoever decided to bother him.


	3. Mysteries

**A/N: Please review**

_**Chapter 3: Mysteries**_

* * *

_The city was consumed in fire. There was nothing left, a barren wasteland of old stone and fire. Black ravens with the four squinting red eyes glared. Her friends, Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg, they were all stone, their expressions twisted in pain._

_Her leotard was torn and ragged. It barely covered her pale grey skin and her hair had lengthened to below her waist._

"_No."_

"_Yes! Look at it, drink it in. Behold the world you are destine to create."_

_In the distance Trigon rose from wreckage. He roared, proclaiming his victory to the heavens._

"_No! I won't do it! This is just a vision, this can't be real."_

"_This is the future, your future. It began the day you were born and nothing can stop it! This will come to pass; I will make sure of it. You're going to destroy the world Raven, it's written all over your face." Slade whispered in her ear._

"_NO!"_

_Time resumed, the fire disappeared, and the buildings weren't in ruin. Everything returned to normal. She and Slade still stood upon the high building but the red marking on her skin faded._

"_We'll be in touch," Slade said as he let go of her, "Oh, and happy birthday."_

_Without the support she toppled off the tower and plunged towards the ground still conscious but unable to do anything. Then the plunge halted, and she drifted over to the roof of another building. Seconds later Robin arrived, and picked her up. She found the strength to open her eyes and looked into his smiling face._

"_Let's go home." He said._

_But even as the words registered in her mind she glimpsed a figure clothed in white and black floating above them. The hood on his cloak was drawn back and she stared for a second into his glowing green eyes. A portal of the same color as his eyes appeared next to him and he drifted through it._

_Her eyes shut, the vision of those green orbs burned there in her mind. They were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen._

* * *

The Teen Titans met in their Ops Center, certain parts on their suits or bodies flashing red with a criminal alert. Robin went to the computer and hit a few keys, the flat panel display popping up with a blue radar image of the city's streets.

"Who is it?"

"The report doesn't say, only that it's terrorizing . . ."

"Dude, what is it?"

"Whatever it is it's terrorizing a warehouse."

"Okay. . ."

The Titans arrived at the warehouse. Cautiously they entered, ready for whatever new criminal it was that was in the warehouse. Each teen went in a different direction searching between the many boxes and crates piled in the large building.

A flash of movement, Raven glided after it. She told the others and they all converged on the shadow she had begun chasing. They cornered it in a clearing in the crates and a little light hit the figure illuminating him.

He was short, pudgy, with a hunch in his back. Overalls and a skull cap covered his body and he looked like any typical warehouse worker. He was floating in the air and a very light blue glow surrounded him.

"Who are you and what do want?" The leader of the teens demanded.

"Beware! I am the Box Ghost, Master of All Things Cube-shaped and Box-like."

"Did that guy just say he was a ghost?"

"It doesn't matter, take him down." Robin glared at the strange man.

"Foolish mortals! You cannot beat me for I am the Box Ghost!"

Their attacks flew at him all of them cutting through and doing nothing except for Raven's. Her projectiles, encased in the black energy of her music struck the strange floating man as if he were solid and threw him into a stack of wooden crates.

"Yeah, way da go, Rae!" Cyborg cheered.

Strange glowing energy encased the crates that buried the man and suddenly they all rose into the air and shot at the team.

"Titans, scatter!"

Boxes exploded as they crashed into the ground, spraying splinters, boards, and scraps of cardboard everywhere. The Box Ghost's laugh echoed through the warehouse, the Titans taking cover only to be revealed when the boxes flew into the air. More of the Titans' attacks shot at the Box Ghost but remained just as ineffective as before.

"Robin, what do we do? We can't touch this guy."

"Raven will have to do it, just distract him Cy. You too everyone else, keep him busy so Raven can finish him."

The faces of the Titans turned grim and they nodded. Springing into action everyone except Raven raced one way, screaming out insults to get the ghost's attention. Meanwhile Raven turned into shadow and sidled over behind the ghost.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Black energy lashed out and encased the man and began to throw him around, forcing him to crash into any and everything. He grunted every time he contacted something, Raven's eyes glowing black with the power of the magic. The energy released him and he slammed into one wall of the warehouse.

Groaning he got up and stared at Raven for a second, "You have won this time but i will return, for I am the Box Ghost!" he disappeared through the wall. The Titans stared for a second before he returned, "Beware!" he cried and then quickly retreated.

"Titans, after him!"

"There's no point," Raven claimed in a monotone, "He's gone; I can't sense him anymore."

"What was he? Could you tell?"

Raven sighed, "I don't know, there wasn't a lot; just cold, lifelessness, and something else, pain, death, whatever it was, it was nothing like anything I have encountered."

"No time to worry about it now, let's get back to the tower so I can figure out who this guy was."

The Titans all chorused their agreement.

* * *

Robin snarled in frustration and pounded his fist into his desk. There was no evidence, no real clues, nothing except for declarations of being a ghost and the fact that raven's magic affected whatever he was. All night of searching for something but for the hours of hard work nothing had turned up.

"Boyfriend Robin, Robin may I please come in?"

"Yeah Star, What is it?"

The door slid open, flooding the sparsely lit room with white light. In the doorway stood the tall, silhouette of Starfire, Robin's Tameranian girlfriend. He gazed for a moment at her, admiring her body and her amazing completely green eyes.

She walked in, "Robin, we are going to do the hanging out at the park, will you accompany us?"

"I can't Star, there's too much work to do. I have to figure out who this 'Box Ghost' guy is."

"You do not remember your promise? You said that no longer would you do this."

"I'm not doing anything, Star."

"You are doing the obsessing over a case and ignoring the rest of us, ignoring me, again." Her voice was quiet, hurt.

Robin stood and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, "I'm sorry Star, it's just . . . well it's just I don't want anyone to get hurt because I didn't know enough because I wasn't prepared."

"Come, Boyfriend let us go to the park with our friends, it is a glorious day for the having of the fun."

Robin smiled at his girlfriend's strange speech patterns and nodded, following her out of the Evidence Room.

* * *

Danny was started awake. Shaking his head he looked around still groggy from sleeping in a tree. Lying next to the base of the trunk of the tree he had spent the night in was a football.

"Dude, sorry about that. Are you okay?" A green boy walked up to him, picking up the football.

"It's fine, I am not hurt." Danny replied, recognizing Beast Boy from the other day.

"He he, oh I'm Beast Boy by the way." He said holding out his hand.

"Danny."

"So, any reason you were in that tree?"

Danny smiled slightly, "I was having a nap."

"Okay, well I'll see ya later, dude."

Danny nodded slightly, before turning and climbing back into the tree to get his bags. He wanted to leave, the last thing he needed was anymore contact with the Teen Titans. He had already run into them once before and that was while he was a ghost. He really didn't want one of the more intelligent members of the team investigating his past and connecting Fenton and Phantom if they discovered his last name.

There was a crashing sound, the tree he was in violently vibrated, before the shriek of breaking wood reached his ears and the tree began to topple. Danny grabbed his bags and threw them forward out of the tree while sliding down the now diagonal trunk. Then pushing off and landing with a role at the shattered base of the trunk, he dusted himself off.

Looking up he swore under his breath, the bag containing all of the books and blueprints his mom had written or purchased had been open and its cargo had been spilt all over the grass. Danny rushed, shoving as many of the blueprints back into the bag as he could before someone noticed them.

A girl flew over him and set down directly in front of him, "I apologize; perhaps I did the passing the ball too hard."

"Danny, are you okay dude?" Beast Boy ran up, smiling sheepishly when he saw Danny was unharmed.

"I'm fine, my stuff just spilt," Danny, replied without looking up still gathering his writings.

"Sorry about that, Starfire gets a little too enthusiastic sometimes, she isn't from this planet. I'm Robin, this is Cyborg, and you've already met Beast Boy and Starfire." Another teen said arriving and gesturing to himself, a large half-robot African American teen who grinned at him, Beast Boy and the girl who had flown over him.

He paused for second, after standing, examining each of them in turn, assessing them. When he came to Starfire he was surprised to see the green eyes and floating, almost expecting his ghost sense to go off before he registered what Robin had said. Danny wondered where Raven was but mentally scolded himself for it.

"And this is Raven." Robin said, shaking Danny's hand.

Danny turned his head and saw her. Now that he closer to her, she looked exactly as he remembered her, black leotard, dark hooded cloak and violet-blue eyes, her demeanour reminded him of Sam. Then he blanched when he realized what she was holding; it was the book he had been writing for the past year, since he torched his home. Because he no longer had his computer, he had been forced to hand write a catalogue of all of the ghosts he had encountered before. This book contained all of the attributes, powers, personality traits, habits and a likeness of each ghost he knew.

She looked at the unmarked binding for a second before opening it, right to page containing the information for the Box Ghost. She nudged Robin with her elbow and showed him the page. He looked up at Danny, suspicion and surprise evident on his face. Danny sighed, this wouldn't turn out well.

* * *

Raven sat cross legged under a tree with a book on spirits and the paranormal dimensions. She had been dragged to the park along with everyone else for a break but she steadfastly refused to play pass opting instead to continue her research on what had happened the prior night.

Her ears caught a dull thud, and the rustling of leaves. Looking up she watched, slightly amused as BB hurried forward to apologize to the young man he had knocked out of the tree. It was too far away for her to clearly see the features of the other boy so she returned to her book.

Only to interrupted minutes later with a loud crash and the thunderous sound of a tree slamming into the grass, the end of the tree far pointing in the opposite direction of her. The others ran to the tree, Star and BB getting there first, Raven sighed exasperatedly and got up.

Raven was surprised to see the teen, who had been flung from the tree not minutes before, to be perfectly fine kneeling on the ground gathering up large sheaves of paper and stuffing them back into one of his bags.

Her foot hit something as she moved forward and picking up the object she realized it was an unmarked book. Examining it, she moved to stand beside Robin and looked up.

Raven found herself staring at a teenager about the same age as herself. He was tall, and built like Robin with maybe slightly more mass on his body. His hair was as long as hers and just as straight but his was black and he allowed some it to fall across his face. His clothes were clean but ratty and worn out.

His ice blue eyes bore into hers when he caught her staring and she looked down embarrassed opening the book to in her hands to occupy herself. As stunned as she was, Raven managed to keep the presence of mind to nudge Robin and show him the page covered in information about the thing they had battled so recently.

Immediately she was Robin go on the defensive, as he looked at Danny suspiciously. His thoughts were the opposite of hers as all she felt was a burning curiosity as to why a probably homeless and poor teenager had a book with all the information they had been looking for.


	4. Some Answers, Even More Questions

_**Chapter 4: Some Answers, Even More Questions

* * *

**_

"Who are you? What are you doing with this book? Where did you get this information?" The newly introduced Robin demanded of Danny.

Danny gave him a 'who the hell do you think you are' look before answering, "My name is Danny, that is my book and the information is mine. Now can I have my book back please?"

The book was handed back to him before Raven spoke, "There's no need to be angry you know."

Danny was surprised, he had become really good at keeping the way he felt out of his voice, "How did you know I was angry?"

"I am an empath, I can sense people's emotions and even read their minds but I don't unless it is absolutely necessary."

His eyebrows rose, "Huh, that's really . . ."

Raven tensed, waiting for him to call her weird or creepy or strange or freaky or any number of names along those lines.

Danny noticed her tense up and smiled mentally, he knew what she was expecting. Having been inside of her mind he knew how she was treated sometimes but he never knew she was an empath or a mind reader. He finished, ". . . Interesting."

Raven's view of Danny rose instantly but before she could respond Starfire burst in, "Tell me Danny, where-did-you-come-from? How-did-you-get-here? Where-do-you-live? What's-your-favourite-color? And-do-you-wish-to-be-my-friend?"

He stood there for a second then, "Uh well, east, walking, here right now, um I'm not sure and okay?"

She tackled him in a hug which he couldn't return as he was being crushed while she spoke, "I am joyous new friend!"

Robin had watched the exchange and it alleviated a little of his unease, anyone who was kind to Starfire's enthusiasm and fine with Raven's abilities. He asked the question that was floating in all of the Titans' minds, "So, you live in the park Danny?"

Danny decided right then he wasn't going to lie out right but he wasn't going to spill out his whole life story thing, some secrets should remain so. Taking a deep breath he said, "Well right now yeah I do. I'll be gone in a few days though."

"Dude, why would you leave? This park is awesome!"

"I don't do well staying in one place for long amounts of time. It doesn't work out for me."

The Titans looked at him funny, and then Starfire predictably spoke up again, "That is unacceptable! Our new friend Danny will not live in the park of fun will he, Robin? He must come to the tower and live there until he must depart."

Danny smiled uneasily, "I can't do that. We barely know each other and well I don't get along with people."

The young leader looked to his team and his friends for their input; they all looked back at him and shrugged. Robin laughed at himself while shaking his head, "Well my friends don't seem to disagree so. . ."

"Glorious!" Starfire cried.

* * *

A year is how long it took Vladimir Masters to re-establish himself in the word. He had tried to live life in the endless depths of space but he found he could not do it. So he had decided to return to Earth but that had taken him nearly two months.

His pain was unimaginable when he had made it back to discover the love of his life Maddie Fenton had been killed by a chunk of the very asteroid that he had made begin its course towards Earth. Jack was gone, Maddie was gone, Vlad Masters was wanted for the attempted extortion of the entire world. There was nothing left for him there.

After acquiring some small fortune from several banks around the world Vlad had gotten himself forged documents. They stated that he, Yuri Semenov, was a Russian who immigrated to America as a child with his parents to make a new life. It didn't have the same ring to it as Vladimir Masters or Vlad Plasmius but it worked for him.

Then Yuri had discovered that Danny Fenton was still alive. Although the boy was missing and hadn't been spotted by any agency searching for him since his home, Fenton Works had gone up in flames a week after the impact. If the boy had thought he was persistent before he didn't know anything.

Yuri was determined that Daniel Fenton not escape, the halfa refused to let the last genetic remnant of Maddie get away from him. He had bought another mansion and immediately began work on his third secret ghost lab in as many years. He bought only the best and did all of the work himself, and finally after another few months he was ready.

He entered the Ghost Zone once again as Plasmius and began his hunt. He spent days floating through the green dimension tracking down every ghost he could and forcing them into servitude. The only one he couldn't find was Skulker, the hunter was missing and not even Ember knew for certain exactly where he was where he was.

It did not matter; every known lesser ghost of the Ghost Zone was under his rule. Everyone from the Lunch Lady to Walker and his goons even the red Behemoth he once faced, the only ones he didn't have were the spirits and those directly allied with the missing Danny Phantom.

Plasmius' plans were laid; the only other stable halfa in the world had already had his fate decided. But it is often the best set plans are the ones that fail, the only thing one like Yuri could count on now was his plans were going to go out the window.

Yuri had no idea how so much more would end up dumped in the metaphorical trash can when everything was under way. How so many other variables would affect everything he hoped would happen.

* * *

"Some place you have." Danny murmured as he gazed around the monstrous Ops Center in Titans Tower.

"This is our living room, games room, and kitchen and operations room," Cyborg declared proudly.

"What no library?"

"The only library is in Raven's room and I don't think you want to go in there." Cyborg advised.

The young halfa glanced at Raven as she stalked out of the room, "I'll keep that in mind."

"So, dude you wanna play me?" Beast Boy asked innocently.

"Oh no, if the new guy's playing anyone it'll be me BB."

"What no fair Cy, I asked first and besides I'm sure Danny wants to play someone with skill."

"Exactly little man, you don't have skill so he'll be playing me."

Danny watched as the two friends argued. It reminded him of the way Tucker and Sam used to argue over movies and video games. Tears began to threaten his eyes and quickly he sucked it back fighting to regain composure. His new powers, he thought of them as new since he hadn't used them much and couldn't control them, were affected by his emotions. He didn't want to give himself away, he'd blown up dumpsters and walls before because he didn't have control.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room." Robin said, walking away.

"Its fine, I can just crash on the couch."

"No you can't, Star won't allow her new friend to sleep on the couch."

With a sigh Danny caved, and began to follow the seventeen year old leader deeper into the tower. _What are you doing Danny? You said you weren't going to interfere in her life anymore, you said the thing with Trigon was enough. Now you're in the same freaking building as her, within a few hundred feet of her, so much for just passing through the city, huh? What am I going to do? She can probably tell I'm not exactly human, or living for that matter._Danny broke from his thoughts.

"Where did you learn to fight?"

"What?"

"The way you moved when that tree came down in the park, where did you learn to fight?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Robin huffed, "Fine, don't answer the question but don't expect to earn our trust by avoiding answering questions."

Silence took over. Eventually they arrived at one end of the T that was the tower. Danny noticed that the corridors seemed to be intentionally creepy looking even in day time, and that if he hadn't been so used to ghosts he would be more than a little unnerved by them.

Robin turned to one of the doors, "This is your room, we eat whenever but get up early if you expect any breakfast." The Titan turned away and walked off without another word.

Danny opened the door and looked in. The room was simple and of a Spartan style; few furnishings, twin sized bed, floor to ceiling windows on two walls with an incredible view of the city. He liked it, simple yet comfortable and liveable.

He dumped his bags on the floor and flopped on to the bed. As much as he hated to admit it he missed having a bed and somewhere secure to sleep. He had been able to keep clean, sneaking into public gyms and places for free showers in the middle of the night and his clothes stayed clean with his intangibility allowing him to make the dirt and such fall through him, he only had two sets of clothing.

There was a small mirror on one of the walls that wasn't windows and he looked at himself in it. He had changed a lot since the impact. Allowing his hair to grow out had made it become straight and it fell down to shoulders and across his face. He had lost most of the small amount of water weight he carried, his face becoming gaunter with his jaw more pronounced and face thinner.

He was surprised at his body; always he had been thin and rather weak looking, his ghost side had augmented his strength greatly, making appear weak but never actually so. Now he was built like Dash but with wiry compact muscle instead of large bulky ones, the result of a hard year on the streets.

Only two things about his appearance remained the same from his old life. His eyes were still the expressive, icy clear blue they always had been, maybe more so thanks to the cryoplasm abilities of Danny Phantom. Even looking in the mirror he could see the masked pain and depression that besot his mind every minute though he tried his utmost to mask it. That and he was pale, he always had been and he still was, although he spent huge amounts of time in the sun walking from place to place. He supposed that was another crossover effect from his ghost side.

Then he had to wonder about the Titans. Starfire, BB, and Cyborg seemed to be fine with him but Robin and Raven, not so much. Robin was detective, a protégée of the famous Batman and Raven was empath, able to sense his thoughts and emotions. It would difficult to keep his other half a secret, more so from Raven then Robin, and the other way around for his past.

It was a mistake coming here, accepting the offer. _Why couldn't I just leave well enough alone and move on with my life. I shouldn't have but I couldn't help it, they are all so much like my . . . family_.Danny's internal conflict raged in his mind, bringing emotions to the surface. Emotions he had practiced for so long to damper. Dangerous it was, to let them come to the surface of his mind, especially with the dark Titan in the building.

* * *

Both of the astute Titans were having problems.

Robin didn't understand Danny at all; his moods were constantly swinging back forth from kind and understanding to closed off and very distant from everything. Then there was the fact that he had a book, a catalogue, of information on the very things that his team was having difficulties finding anything on.

Raven wasn't fairing much better; Danny an enigma, one moment he had the emotion of a concrete road the next his mind was a torrent of anger, sadness, regret and self loathing. Not a single one of her vast quantity of books had anything that seemed even mildly accurate about the being they faced but then some random civilian has everything they needed and more. That coupled with the fact that both Danny and the strange floating being, likely the same type of creature based on the reactions of their powers, they had met in the cavern left Raven's emotions going wild inside her mind.

Not even her meditation, which consisted of her entering the strange place that was her mind to converse with the representations of her emotions and if need be forcing them to comply. But with them in the states they were that wasn't going to happen. Happy was running around like Beast Boy, laughing and screaming. Timid was quiet but constantly blushing. Brave kept proclaiming nonsense about confronting both Danny and the white being. Rude was blatantly asking the personal questions she wanted to know. Envy was stewing angry that they didn't have the power of the white one, and Rage was chained to a tree snarling like a wild animal.

There was one she didn't recognize, dressed in purple and sighing constantly a dreamy glaze in her eyes. Then it struck Raven, Affection or Love, but that didn't make any sense, she didn't feel anything for anyone so why. There was no one in her life like that felt anything for or that she felt anything resembling that type of feeling.

Only wisdom was something resembling normal except she was staring at her with a knowing smile. Wearing a look that said 'we both know what is going on but you refuse to admit it.'

She floated out of her room and ran into Robin about to knock. They looked at each other for a second and nodded. It was something they had started doing a lot since they got back from Tokyo, communicating silently. No words were needed, they were thinking the exact same thing; answers were needed and only one person could give them to the team.


	5. The Search

**A/N:To you readers who actually reviewed this story thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time to do it and I'm sorry I didn't thank you earlier (I am not listing your pennames as that always kind of annoys me when I read stories).**

_**Chapter 5: The Search**_

* * *

Plasmius sighed. He had learned from Ember that her boyfriend Skulker had stumbled through a portal while chasing the Box Ghost. Skulker always did get worked up over little things; apparently the heavier set ghost had broken some of the hunter's tech and in a fit of anger the robotic spectre began a hunt.

Now the evil halfa had a potential lieutenant running around in the 'real' world with valuable weapons that he needed for other officers in his army. He resolved to send someone after Skulker but who to send? He needed someone half way competent at tracking Skulker and powerful for the job. The Vulture Ghosts were out, as was the Lunch Lady, Aragon, and Spectra along with most of the others under him. If he had had Wulf he would have used him but the clawed ghost was good at evading capture, especially with the ability to tear portals into human world with those claws.

Maybe Technus, yes Nicolai Technus would do nicely. The ghost may have been long winded but his affinity with technology would allow him to easily find and return with Skulker. Plasmius wasn't too confident in trusting Technus with such an important task but there was no other choice.

Plasmius stood to the side of his portal; Technus 2.0 as he called himself emerged from the portal's swirling green depths. His white cape and long hair billowing out behind him, he bowed. He bowed because Plasmius was cracking down harder than ever on the ghost populous, he was ruthless and tortured anyone who stood in his way hideously.

"Go, find the hunter and bring him back here. I need him and if you fail the punishment will be a thousand times beyond anything you think it will be."

Technus bowed and fled the room. Plasmius grinned, his fangs glinting in the light of the portal. After Skulker would come the boy, there was no more banter or patience left in Plasmius. Now was the time to finally get what he wanted, supreme over lordship of the Ghost Zone and Danny Fenton/Phantom as an apprentice and son.

His scientific mind had spent millions of dollars developing an enhancement for ghost powers. It had been in development for only three months before he began testing it, on himself. As a ghost he couldn't be killed so testing caused him no real harm that couldn't be reversed.

One month ago he had used it on himself and the results were absolutely terrifying. His abilities were pushed far beyond what they ever could be naturally, he had more power than he had ever experienced and with it came the urge to test it.

A ghost's power came from the amount of ectoplasm that they were imbued with, so logically putting a super concentrated form of ectoplasm inside a ghost would amplify its abilities. Technus 2.1 was the second true test of this idea, the results would be interesting to see.

Plasmius slipped into the portal, a new plan formulating itself in his devious and psychotic mind. Now was the time to gain the loyalty of the spirits, those ghosts that were truly powerful; Undergrowth, Vortex, the Fright Knight and Nocturn. They were the truly powerful beings that could be controlled in Ghost Zone.

Daniel Fenton would never know what was coming if everyone did their jobs correctly.

* * *

Starfire had dragged Danny from his room as she did with Raven from her room. Cyborg and Beast Boy had decided that the day shouldn't end just because Danny had come to stay at the tower so the team plus Danny was going for pizza.

The ride was awkward to say the least, five of them crammed inside the T-car with Robin leading on the R-cycle. Sitting between Star and Raven was even worse as he found both attractive, and had a connection of unknown properties with one. Starfire was naive to it but Raven wasn't she too was blushing slightly at the intimacy, especially seeing as the back was designed for Beast Boy and the girls all of who were smaller than Danny.

Fortunately, the drive to the Titans favourite pizza place was quick and they were all out of the vehicle and at a table within ten minutes. Then came the arguments. It was mostly between Cyborg and BB but Starfire broke in to ask for the most unusual toppings.

"We're having the Meat Supreme, BB!"

"No way, Cy! I've been most of those animals, you know that! Vegie Deluxe, dude."

"May we have mustard?"

"Meat!"

"Vegie!"

"Mustard!"

Danny couldn't take it. It was so much like two certain people used to argue that he had enough, "Enough! Stop arguing, we'll get both and I'll pay just shut Up!" he didn't know where the anger had come from but it had broken out and it was too late to take it back.

The whole Pizza Place went silent. Everyone was staring at him, giving him strange looks. He sat back down, having no idea when he stood up. After a time conversation picked back in the building and the awkwardness disappeared.

They ordered the two pizza's, despite the yelling the Titans weren't about to turn down free pizza. While they waited for their food idle chat hovered through the air around them. Questions were asked of Danny but he skilfully deflected them onto another member of the hero team.

The pizzas arrived and as everyone prepared to dig in they were interrupted. The interruption was unlike what most would expect, instead of some fan or hater of the Titans a rather large minivan crashed through the wall and slid to a stop at the foot of their table.

Danny gasped as the blue mist escaped his mouth, no one noticed it though. He could tell who it was, Technus, there was something different though, it appeared the power of the technology controlling ghost seemed different. It was greater than the last time they had faced each other.

Robin looked rather surprised at what happened, "Titans, Go!" his team ran or flew forward. As Beast Boy went past him Robin's hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder, "BB you stay here, watch Danny."

"Aww come on Robin. I want to help, I need to help."

"No, Beat Boy. _I need _you here to watch Danny so he doesn't get hurt."

An indignant expression crossed Danny's face, "You know I don't need to be watched right? I'll be fine here by myself."

BB turned back to his leader, "See . . . "

"No! You will stay here and watch Danny." Robin cut in, completely ignoring what Danny had said. The leader didn't trust the mysterious teen yet and refused to let him alone.

Beast Boy nodded and watched forlornly as Robin ran out behind. In the instant that both of the heroes weren't looking at him, Danny slipped away deeper into the building out of sight. Beast Boy of course never noticed, preferring to stand by the jagged hole in the wall to keep a lookout.

* * *

Raven faltered, an intense burning cold and death hit her empathetic abilities like Beast Boy as a Tyrannosaurus. It was so sudden that she nearly collapsed off of her chair. She recovered from it, managing to build a mental wall to block it out just in time for a minivan to come flying through the wall.

She heard Robin's order and followed Star and Cy out the hole. What greeted them surprised her, the robotic creature was gigantic, dozens of feet tall and at least two car lengths wide it towered over them.. It looked to be constructed of anything technological that the creature could get a hold of.

As Raven watched a glowing green tendril shot out of the robot and latched onto the T-car dragging it back to the giant. Cyborg's vehicle disappeared into it and suddenly it began to grow. The blue tech in the car laced itself through the creature and became one with it. Her eyes widened, and she heard a cry of anger come from the eldest Teen Titan.

"My car! That's it, you're going down now, you-you whatever you are." Cyborg screamed out. A blue beam of sonic energy shot from Cyborg's arm, it struck but was harmlessly absorbed into the creature.

"What are you?" Cyborg shouted again.

"I am Technus 2.1 Master of Technology and All Things Electronic and Beeping. Your attacks are useless, I shall find the hunter and bring him back; he cannot hide from me. And you cannot . . ."

A car coated in Raven's black magic crashed into Technus knocking him over into a building. They cheered; the Titans and those civilians that did not flee but it was short lived as he stood back up.

Technus cackled, "Foolish girl, you cannot beat me. I am Technus 2.1."

A new wave of cold smashed against Raven's barriers breaking through and overwhelming her senses, causing her to fall to her knees on the street. Technus cackled again and threw a car at her. In her over sensed state she could only watch as the car flew towards her obviously ready to crush her into the ground.

Raven braced for impact but it never came. Instead when she opened her eyes and looked up again she saw a large glowing green dome protecting her. The car struck with the sound of crushing metal and fell off the wall that was there. Rapidly she looked around trying to figure out where it came from, the cold washed away with a surge of anger from a different source.

A green beam flashed through the sky as the dome faded and struck the robotic entity on the shoulder. This time there was visible damage on the creature's body in the form of a large hole. Everyone looked to where the blast came from and saw the floating white being there. His hood was up and his cloak flapped around him, his green eyes burning with an incredible rage filled glow.

* * *

He smirked, Beast Boy had good intentions but he wasn't the best candidate for guarding him. Danny snuck quietly away from the short green teenager and out of sight into one of the bathrooms. The blue of his eyes turned green and bands of white light appeared, they travelled up and Fenton was replaced with Phantom.

A dull ache pervaded Danny's body for moments after the transformation, he waited and after it faded he moved. Going invisible and intangible he floated up through the restaurant and into the open sky.

He saw the robot and heard the spiel. He watched as Raven fell out of the air and hit the ground. He saw the car flying towards her; it would hit her, kill her, no he wouldn't allow it. No after what both of them had gone through so she could live without the prophecy over her head.

The righteous anger inside of him broke free and manifested itself through his newer abilities. A huge green dome appeared in front of her, and the car struck it. The projectile stopped cold but Danny could feel the drop in his energy, he had lots left but the cost of stopping the car wasn't unnoticeable.

He dropped the dome when the car returned to the ground and fired a powerful beam of ecto-energy at Technus. It cut a rough hole through the body of the ghost and forced him back several steps. Technus's electronic face grinned and tendrils shot in back and forth between the two ends of the hole closing the wound.

"Ahahaha, the ghost-child, where is Skulker?"

"Cutting to the chase now, Technus? What happened to the Technus 2.0 who wanted to rule the world through tech?" Danny asked. After letting the bolt of ectoplasm go his anger had disappeared as quickly as it appeared. It was scary.

Technus frowned but never answered with words instead more electronic tentacles snapped out of his body and wrapped around Danny before he could react. He tried to phase through them but an electric shock ran through him, shorting out that ability.

Danny struggled against Technus but gained little ground, he vision began to fade as the tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter. He was vaguely aware of Titans watching with everyone else horrified and fascinated at the sight. He felt the Fenton Thermos being taken off of his belt and knew that Technus had now assimilated the technology in it with his body increasing his strength.

His body, even as a ghost couldn't take the pressure and he felt several ribs bruise and flex painfully. _Where did Technus get this power . . . huh, oh what? This shouldn't be possible, how?_The questions flew through his mind as he went in and out of consciousness. The last thought he had was that again he wasn't strong enough or fast enough to stop the enemy again.

That thought ignited the anger again, the glow in Danny's now open eyes intensified to a blinding green light. Several ribs broke and blood trickled from his mouth but he was beyond pain now. Power welled up inside of his body; all around debris rose up in green energy. It halted once level with him and then just like that it rammed forward.

The tendrils loosened off of Danny, and he slipped out. The pain from the broken bones was already fading, his accelerated healing even faster with the new energy racing inside Danny. _That's new._ He had power similar to Raven's but the only form that he knew that he could have used was the shields he had summoned in the last few times he had been attacked.

To be able to summon that much of the power was beyond what he thought possible of his new abilities. _It shouldn't have been necessary though. I'm rusty, I knew I should have kept up with transformations and training. _Danny looked and saw Technus getting back up from where he had fallen. _Let's see you regenerate after this._

The icy blue returned to his eyes. Technus charge forward intent of hitting Danny his whole body. A blue ray hit the robots leg as it came up for another step, covered in the permafrost of Danny's cryogenic powers it struck the ground and shattered.

Technus pitched forward and collided with the pizza place, the whole building shook and a lattice of cracks snaked out from where he hit. Danny reached to his belt for the thermos he carried but it wasn't there, it was in Technus. He thanked his lucky stars that he had switched the one with Skulker in it out for his spare empty one in case he faced one of the especially strong ghosts or even a spirit.

The thermos worked on a system that it could only contain so much of the ectoplasmic energy that ghosts and spirits emitted. Several weaker ghosts could be contained easily enough, if they were ghosts that had no theme or name dozens could be kept. Spirits, the most powerful type of entities in the Ghost Zone could only be contained one at a time.

Sticking Skulker and Technus in the same thermos would be pushing it with the new strength that Technus had mysteriously acquired. It seemed all the greater though with Danny out of practice fighting ghosts.

Technus groaned from his place at the base of the restaurant. The cracks kept spreading outward from the impact area, a creaking escaped from the building and it was obvious that the pizza place was going to come down. Then suddenly the building began to fall in on itself.

"Beast Boy!" the Titans screamed.

Danny bolted at the falling structure turning intangible, Technus momentarily forgotten. He looked inside and saw nothing, only the top floor had come down so far there was still time to save the green Titan. He looked to the table they had sat at earlier and saw his bag was gone, he had left the bag of literature at the tower but refused to leave any of the ghost hunting equipment.

Flying through a wall he found Beast Boy, "Beast Boy! Come on, I have to get you out of here." He shouted

The shape shifter looked at him, "Whoever you are I can't leave without Danny."

"He's already out now come on!" BB looked at him for a second and nodded, "Hang on to the bag, this might feel strange."

Danny gripped Beast Boy's shoulders and focussed, pushing the intangibility out of his body and into the other teen. A tingling feeling spread throughout BB and he grabbed on to the strap of the bag slung around his shoulder. The building came down with rumble.

The dust settled outside and sadness permeated the air. As far as the others knew Danny and Beast Boy were dead, crushed beneath several tonnes of concrete. Dejectedly, Raven restrained the still stunned Technus with wrappings of her magic.

Danny and Beast Boy rose out of the rubble, once they cleared it and were in clear skies the levelled out and began forward.

"You can fly yourself right?" Danny asked, wanting to finish off Technus.

Beast Boy nodded and transformed into a pterodactyl when Danny gently let him go. The new body proved to be too large, the strap on the duffle bag stretched then broke. BB dove after it and caught it but tore a gaping rip into the fabric. He landed, returning to human.

BB took the chance to look inside the bag and pulled out a thermos. He stared dumbfounded, "A thermos? A thermos is what is inside the top secret bag? Dude, what the hell?"

* * *

Technus recovered from his dazed state and began to struggle against the binding he found himself in. Raven was distracted by seeing Beast Boy alive and unharmed, that lapse in concentration allowed the robot to break free. It stood on its remaining leg, using the rubble pile for support and began to swing one arm back and forth it converting into a mass of the tentacles.

* * *

Beast Boy looked at the thermos. It was strange, made of silvery metal with a white lid. A green bar ran up the side of it, about half of it dark and not glowing beside that near the top end was a button. A flat switched was on the other side. He removed the lid and peered inside but saw nothing so he replaced it.

Danny flew by the youngest Titan and hit the wall of the building behind him with enough force to go through it. Beast Boy looked at the hole and watched as the still hooded figure climbed out coughing, "Give me the thermos." He said holding out his hand.

Beast Boy complied tossing him the thermos. He caught it easily and took off holding it in one hand and charging his fist with cryoplasm in the other. He connected with Technus and the permafrost spread out encasing a large part of the robot's body. Together they tumbled to the ground and the ice encased section of the body shattered.

Before Technus could recover Danny shoved the thermos into the electronic body as far as it would go and pressed the button; the ghost screamed as he was sucked into it. The glowing green bar on the side of the thermos filled the rest of the way. Danny capped it and clipped it to the disabled Spectre Deflector at his waist.

The young halfa turned around and was hit full frontal with a clawed hand of black magic. It gripped him painfully, re-agitating the wounds to his ribs, and forced him up against the side of another building, twenty feet above the ground. Raven floated up to him, hood pulled back and glared at him.

Danny stared at her, he had yet to see her without her hood since he had met again; "Who are you?" she demanded angrily.

"Hello Raven, long time no see eh?" Danny quipped.

Her blue-violet eyes burned into him.


	6. Answers

_**Chapter 6: Answers**_

* * *

She stared at the odd creature. Far as she could tell he was like the others; a ghost, unable to be harmed or even affected except by anything but her magic or other ghosts. Yet as she stared at him Raven noticed that he, unlike Technus and the Box ghost bled, he was physically injured and showed real organic signs of being hurt.

His ribs were broken, that much she could tell, the clawed appendage of her magic wasn't helping with that. Green blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, only that much was visible besides the glowing eyes under the hood, streaks of bright red visible in the glowing liquid. What did it mean? The red was that of a living thing from this dimension or at least as far as Raven knew.

Her eyes flicked up to his. It stunned her how alive they looked for a creature that was supposed to be dead. The others that she had encountered had had nothing but cold dead eyes but these were, well she wouldn't call it warm but they had more emotion in them.

Mentally the ghost was a blank slate, she could sense nothing concrete, a wall shielded off his mind, only faint traces getting through. It was if she could hear the whispers of emotion, quick little flashes of feeling but they were muted behind a closed door. For every different snatch of feeling his eyes changed. It was unlike anything she had ever seen, the green eyes cycled through every shade of the color imaginable. She had thought such things weren't possible for those who were gone. They were beautiful but also scary at the same time, when he had fought the hard steel in his eyes was more than even Robin's when Slade had returned.

And then there was his knowledge. No one outside the Titans knew her on the level with which he had greeted her. She had met him before, somewhere in the past. Where? She had to find out.

"Who are you?" She asked again keeping a facade of anger in place, trying to intimidate him.

He smirked, "Please, Rae, we both know that that kind of anger doesn't possess you anymore. You can drop the whole dark thing you aren't the same person you were a year ago, ask questions and I will answer them truthfully, for the most part. My name is Danny Phantom."

"You don't have the right to call me that."

"Ok, ok I won't but I think that I know you better than anyone you know even if you don't know me or believe anything I say. You feel it don't you? The connection, that niggling little feeling that digs into the back of your mind."

"Shut up! No more talking just answer the questions then be quiet." The ghost was right, she could feel it, whatever it was. But she had no reason to believe him, the amount he knew and how he knew it puzzled her.

"Alright, ask away."

"What are you?"

"Well technically, I am a ghost but really I am a halfa."

"How did you have power so like my own?"

Good question but I don't have the answer. I am as much in the dark as you are as to how it happened or where I got them. Try another one.

"Where are you from?"

"That's a little bit personal. For ghosts it is deeply insulting to ask how one died."

"Fine. Why are you here?

" . . . . I-I don't know. Ever since that thing with Trigon I have just wandered the country."

Raven sucked in a breath, no one outside the team even had any idea about the incident where her father had escaped imprisonment and made it out into the material plane. Desperately she tried to remember and suddenly the memory popped into her mind, the ghost boy had been there for the battle with Trigon. She couldn't remember his role but she specifically remembered that he had been there. It was his voice that was more familiar than anything, she could remember it speaking to her while she faced that terrifying time.

While all of that had been racing through Raven's mind her magic had slipped. The magic had faded and the claw had let go of Danny before dissipating completely. He floated around the zoned out Raven and over to Beast Boy.

"I'll get the bag to Fenton." He said holding out his hand.

Beast Boy, like the other heroes was out of it. The shock that held Raven had also overwhelmed the rest. The green boy nodded dumbly letting the bag fall from his hand and into Danny's. As soon as he had it, the young halfa disappeared from view and flew off away from the scene.

Robin was the first to recover, "Come on guys, let's go home," He said. Similar to Raven his mind was weighted down with many thoughts. The revelations about the mysterious boy set off the investigator part of the Boy Wonder. The conversation played in his mind, searching for anything that might help.

He knew an amazing amount about Raven's feelings and how her mind worked, more than even he did, the ghost knew about Trigon and claimed to have been there. They now knew the being's name and it had even let slip Danny's name. It was strange the similarity between the two different boys' names, Phantom, Fenton. Their personalities were different though, Danny F. was shy and quiet while Danny P. was confident and bold.

Something had happened to Phantom, by the way he fought against Technus he was a hero or used to be, whatever had occurred had changed Phantom made him lost. He was confident and charismatic but Robin had detected a deep seated pain and sorrow in the boy's voice.

* * *

Danny flew away fast and furious. He was screwed now, while talking to Raven he had let information slip, things he hadn't wanted to. It had been so easy to talk to her, to let some secrets out. It was obvious to him now that deep down he wanted someone to know again, someone to ease the burden of leading a double life. A person that he could talk to again about everything he went through being a hero who had to hide half of himself from everyone while getting through high school and protecting the world from evil psychotic entities made from powerful emotion and ectoplasm.

No one still living in the entire world knew about halfas except Vlad and the inhabitants of the Ghost Zone, now Raven knew and she was one of the few who could discover what it meant. It was worse because he had to go back to Titan Tower as Danny Fenton. Otherwise they would come looking for him to get answers to the questions that had no doubt risen up and he had let slip that Danny Phantom knew Danny Fenton.

He landed in an alley and changed back. He really needed to figure out what to do about Technus and Skulker both of which were now trapped in a thermos that was bursting at the seams. There was only on option now, he had to dissect some of the other ghost tech he had and try and construct another thermos from it.

He could do it, contrary to appearances in Casper High Danny was actually pretty good when it came to the technology of ghost related items. Living with a couple of full time ghost hunters who were also scientific geniuses did that to a person. But he needed somewhere to work, and it would be easier with the plans that were in his other bag.

Taking a long deep breath Danny shouldered his bag and started to walk through the sprawling metropolitan city, his damaged ribs already on the mend.

* * *

When they had made it back to the tower Robin had immediately ordered Raven and Cy to research everything they could on Danny Phantom and the Fenton name. Several hours later they now met in a closed off room to discuss what they had found.

"What did you find?"

"Nothing much, couple of news clippings naming Phantom a menace and ecto-terrorist, apparently he kidnapped the mayor of a town in Oregon called Amity Park. There's conflict to that though, some say he is a hero like us but only local, not very well known worldwide. There are a few fan clubs in the country even one here in Jump. Stories of him saving the town from calamity, including a period when the place had literally disappeared off the map, nothing about a halfa." The half robot reported dutifully.

"Raven?"

"There's no mention of a halfa or this Danny Phantom in any of my books, I believe he is fairly recent. And there is also no mention of anything called a halfa."

"What about you Robin?" the eighteen year-old African American asked.

"I looked around for mention of the Fentons. There's next to nothing. Trace references of them, ghost hunters apparently that lived in Amity but otherwise there's nothing. No mention of where they are now or if they are still even active. They were a family of four, the parents, Danny and a girl, older than Danny."

"So what do we do?"

"When Fenton gets back we ask him a couple of questions. We have to find out what is going on, where his family is, how he knows Phantom, everything he knows about Phantom, why he is in Jump, everything. If we have to we'll use force."

The teens knew now that they had no choice, Raven had almost been killed. It was necessary to find out anything possible on Danny Fenton and Phantom. If they didn't more people could be put in danger, information was the key to their success if nothing turned up then a more thorough search for information would have to be done outside the city. That required time one thing they didn't think they had.

* * *

Danny walked into the Ops Center of Titan Tower to find a trap waiting for him. The doors slid open and he found five pairs of eyes focussed on him, standing there for a second he turned and went to leave but was cut off by a black wall. Danny spun around intent on giving them a piece of his mind but fell back as Starfire was standing, floating really right in front of him.

"New friend Danny, you must come and sit." She cried.

Danny could only weakly agree, he did not have the heart to shut down the girl that had the enthusiasm so reminiscent of Jazz. He let himself get pulled by one arm to the couch and he sat down heavily. He wasn't as clueless as he used to be, he knew that he was going to be grilled for information probably on ghosts.

"Dude, do you want a drink or anything?" Beast Boy burst out, Danny was shaking his head before he finished.

"So Danny, where are you from exactly? Where were you born?" Robin asked, starting with simple innocent seeming questions and planning to work to his up to the main topic of ghosts.

The homeless teen just smirked, "Cut the crap. What do you want know?"

The team of heroes taken aback by Danny blunt attitude and question. It was unexpected that Danny be so rude, he had kept up a front of politeness so far. Raven smiled, it was very slight so no one noticed but it was still there, Danny knew what was happening, he wasn't blind to world as Robin thought he was.

This should go well.

"Fine. We want to know-"

"Who I am, who Phantom is, is Phantom good or bad, am Igood or bad, what is going on, where all of these ghosts keep coming from, et cetera, et cetera."

Raven was internally laughing, for the one of the first times ever she was laughing. Her emotions had taken control again, Happy in particular. Danny was way more in the loop than they thought he would be, he had the answers the they wanted and wanted nothing from them. He had leverage and they didn't but they had her and her powers and Raven knew that she would be made to break into his mind.

The other Titans were quiet letting Robin take the lead, "Right then, where are the ghosts coming from?"

"The Ghost Zone, a desolate dimension parallel to ours and so closely connected that if this one were destroyed so too would the Ghost Zone. It is also a gate way to other dimensions like the levels of Hell and Heaven and as well as most other dimensions although I have never seen any of them." Danny replied. He didn't hold much back except that he had gone to another dimension and another time line once.

"How do you know so much about it?"

Danny sighed, "It runs in my family."

"Where are they?"

"I . . . don't know."

Raven, who had been monitoring what she could of Danny's emotions, was hit with a huge blast of pain. It came from Danny his walls were gone and a boiling sorrow and an incredible self loathing roiled up from him as he said those words. The pain of it made her feel physically ill, how anyone could take that pain was outside of her comprehension.

"What about Phantom? Who is he? What does he want?"

Danny recovered from the memories that flashed before his eyes, "Phantom is . . . an interesting specimen. He is a young ghost who first appeared about three years ago now but he is powerful. His power has evolved and grown faster than any other known spectral entity."

"You mean ghosts gain more power?"

"A ghost grows and changes like any living thing. As time passes from the beginning of a ghost it's power increases until after a time a ghost will hit its cap and stop growing."

"And Phantom has hit his cap?"

Danny laughed, "No, no. Phantom is very unique in that respect. His abilities react differently with things. He's gained powers before he should have and powers that he shouldn't have at all. His potential as a ghost, as a threat to whatever he wishes is incredible."

"You know him well. Is he against us? Can we trust him? Do you trust him?"

"He isn't against anyone, not anymore. He has power far beyond what any can imagine but as much as it is a gift, it is also a curse. A terrible curse, in the ghost realm he is special and the creatures there more apt to commit evil challenge themselves against him. Phantom can't get close to anyone for if he does they will be used against him, ghosts have no emotions, and they feel no remorse or compassion. Killing a few humans wouldn't faze them at all.

He fears no one but himself. With the power he has he doesn't have to. It would easy for him to turn and become an evil bastard but he doesn't. He suffers everyday for what he cannot stop and for what he could turn into.

Do I trust him? With my life. With the lives of others, with the lives of the ones that I care about, I cannot know for sure." Danny took a deep breath; it took much out of him to explain so much.

"Is he your friend? Can you arrange-"

"I won't answer anymore questions; you have plenty of answers, if Phantom wants to talk to you then he will come to you. I have had enough of you, thanks for offering me a place to stay but it would be best if I left." Danny rose from the couch and walked toward the now clear doorway.

"Let him go Robin, Danny Fenton is not one to take force well." Raven advised quietly.

"We can't let him leave, Rae, he is our only connection to Phantom. We need him, block the door I'll restrain him."

The black barrier reappeared. Danny stopped several feet from it and waited, he knew Robin would grab him. He felt the hand drop down on his right shoulder, faster than the Boy Wonder could react Danny gripped the boy's arm. Robin was thrown over the shoulder and into the blocked door with more force than he expected out of the other teen.

He approached Robin and grabbed the boy's shirt dragging him up from the floor and pinning him against a wall level with his face, "Is the great Boy Wonder going to stop me? I thought you would be observant enough to realize that I am not someone that takes manipulation easily." Danny's voice was a low cold snarl.

Cy, BB and Star moved to help their leader. Starfire grabbed Danny and whipped him around throwing him across the room with her alien strength; she really didn't like people touching Robin. He twisted while drifting through the air and landed in a crouch, standing after. The burning fire that had appeared when Robin grabbed him intensified.

The reason he had stopped 'Going Ghost' was he wanted to leave that part of his past behind and in part to escape the anger and the voice. After the accident the anger had been there but it was small even while in ghost form. Post the Trigon thing it had been worse and he had to stop changing from completely to control it.

It was the first ever time that he had been possessed like this while not in ghost form. It was Him. Dan Phantom tortured him every waking moment with images of death and the future of what he could become. He whispered dark things in his mind and built upon Danny's failure to protect his family and friends.

_Give into it Danny, attack them, hurt them. They tried to stop you; they have mistreated you, fight back. Don't be weak, defend yourself Danny, this is why you lost them._

"Get. Out. Of. My. Head." Danny choked out dropping to his knees his hands at his head.

_You're weak. You don't deserve your power, you can't even use it to save your family and now they are gone. It is your fault they died and your fault that you will never see them again. You can't do 'good' anymore Danny, every time you try you cause destruction and danger._

"You lie! I have done good, I have helped people."

_Listen to yourself, Danny, you don't believe that. You're just lying to me and to yourself. Stop lying and become the true you; become what you are meant to be, it is inevitable._

The Titans watched as the fire disappeared from Danny's eyes. He fell to the floor writhing and muttering to himself incoherently. Tears dripped from his eyes, pain and loathing radiating from him to the point where the Titans who weren't psychically empathetic could physically feel it.

Raven, who could sympathize, crept through the other gathered teens to Danny, the human-demon cross breed could feel the evil presence clawing its way through his mind. She knelt next to him and reached out one hand tentatively. Danny was facing away from them, on his side, hands around himself and legs curled halfway to his body. When her pale grey hand contacted his shoulder her started, turning at a high speed to face her.

The glare returned for a moment and her hand was knocked away, before it faded. His pure blue eyes full of emotion looked into hers before he ran pushing his way through the others and into the bowels of the tower.


	7. Revelations

_**Chapter 7: Revelations

* * *

**_

Danny sped through the dark corridors of Titans Tower. Dan's voice still echoed through his mind. He tried to ignore it but it dug in, a parasite feeding poison into his mind. Lightning flashed outside a window, heralding the raging storm, the lights flickered and went out flooding the hallways in the darkness of night.

Danny kept going, transforming and floating up past the ceiling into the tempest. The rain lashed around him, nearly horizontal, mixing with the tears streaking down his hood protected face. He sunk down to the cement of the roof, gazing into a puddle at his reflection being disturbed by the rain.

A blue dome materialized above him when the water pouring from the heavens contacted it froze instantaneously and the wind was blocked. The disturbances in the puddle stopped and the ghost boy watched as his cape settled against his back. He looked similar to Dan now, he hated to admit it but he did.

With a roar he slammed his fists into the roof leaving indents two inches deep. The anger was taking over again, alleviated by violence but not enough for him to gain control. Danny fought it back with all he had, ashamed of himself for it, _Sam and Tucker would be ashamed of me. I miss you all so much._

The sentiment brought forth memories of what he did after the impact of the meteor fragment.

_He hated himself. After the stone had returned to flesh he couldn't bear to be around the impact area. He fled flying fast and hard. It was unfair, so many people survived; in reality the only actual deaths were his family, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie. Otherwise there were only injuries._

_He set down in front of the Fenton Works workshop. He walked in, not bothering to change back or open the door. Danny avoided his family's rooms, the pain was too much, going to the lab._

_He immersed himself in the ghost tech. Performing dozens of tests on himself, like his parents would have done if they knew except without any 'tearing him apart molecule by molecule.' He learned all of the technology and made himself understand it to make Tucker proud. Finally he used only recycled materials for Sam, it was by far the most difficult oath to fulfill._

_In the midst of trying to make peace with his deceased loved ones he learned a lot about himself. The second binding of his DNA and the ectoplasm created a much more powerful ghost side in him. All of the effects that had transferred over to his human side the first time were amplified; his speed was increased more, strength, balanced, dexterity, agility, and athleticism. His body had changed with more muscle developing faster, he could see better; basically every aspect of his body was improved._

_His blood while in ghost form used to be red like while he was human, now it was green streaked with red and vice versa in human form he assumed. Taking it under microscope he found that his blood cells had become a melding of red and green he figured that had happened with most of his cells. The plasma in his blood had been replaced with ectoplasm._

_Fenton Works had been sealed off with the security systems so no one bothered him. Three weeks after he entered he packed up two duffle bags with everything important he could find. Then for the first time in the weeks he had been there he changed back into human._

_Choked up with emotion he spread flammable chemicals throughout the house. He layered them extra thick in his parents' room and his sister's along with the upper workshop and lab. He poured a trail to the front door and out it in the middle of the night. Transforming back into ghost form he lit only his right index finger with ectoplasm._

_With a deep breath of the night air and a single tear leaking from his eye he knelt and touched the chemicals. Danny watched as his home, his life and his memories were consumed in bright colourful flames. The building became a raging inferno before the Fire Brigade could arrive._

_Danny became invisible as they showed and watched as they failed to quench the flames. The heat became so intense that the mostly stone building collapsed in the fire creating a large billow of dust, smoke and ash._

_He shouldered his bags and flew away, emotions battling inside his head._

* * *

"Wow. Dude, what just happened?" BB with no tact asked the question.

"I don't know, Beast Boy, I don't know." Robin said.

"Is friend Danny okay?" Starfire may have been angry that he was rough on Robin but it still made her sad to see a friend in pain.

"We'll find him and figure out if he is. The power is out in the tower so Raven you will have to search it manually, Cy, you, BB, and Star search the streets and I'll search the outskirts. Danny can't have actually gotten very far he's on foot."

The team left the Ops Center. Raven sighed, at least she wouldn't have to go out into the rain. Drifting slowly through the tower from the bottom up she extended her conscious out from her body searching for any sign of Danny.

She had always thought the Tower at night was creepy even with her darker disposition. She started at the bottom teleporting down into the garage. It was pitch black with no windows or light sources with the bulbs having gone out. All she heard was the skittering of rats and the pour of water outside.

Her powers suddenly picked up a huge pulse of energy not unlike that of the ghosts surge down from the roof of the base, a wave of cold trails behind it. It was that feeling that made the answer that had been evading her for several hours suddenly become clear. The familiarity of the cold energy made the memories come rushing back to her.

* * *

A roar pounded throughout the mansion. Technus had disappeared while searching for Skulker. Plasmius knew where they both had gone but he didn't know how feel. Even with the ectoplasmic concentrate Technus had been forced onto Danny Phantom had still defeated him.

Yuri had not been expecting to find the boy so easily but it explained why Skulker was gone and saved him the searching for Daniel. He was sure that the serum would make even the lowliest ghost strong enough to take the boy but Technus had failed. Plasmius was frustrated; angry that it had not increased the strength of ghosts like it had himself and pleased that Daniel Fenton had been found so easily.

If he compared his own ability and power to that of Phantom's, even with the serum, Phantom's was catching up and very quickly. Why this was happening still puzzled Yuri. Three years after his own accident his power had been a fraction of what Phantom's was, the fact that the idiot son of the bigger idiot Jack Fenton was so powerful at such a young age angered Plasmius.

There had to be another factor that he wasn't considering. Something had happened that increased Daniel's power and gave him new ones that shouldn't have been possible. He had to find out what it was and if possible utilize it, the boy had and if brain dead teenager could do it so could he.

"Walker! Get over here, I need you." Plasmius snarled. He waited, after a few minutes another roar rung out, "WALKER!"

"Yes Boss." The white suited prison warden ghost hovered through the portal, an entourage of his own goons following behind him.

"Next time, you incompetent fool, you show up immediately. I need you to perform a service for me."

"Someone breaking the rules, Boss?"

"Don't interrupt me. Now, you remember Danny Phantom I trust? I need you to watch him, find out how he acquired his new power and bring me the source, use any means necessary. Don't let him find out it is me orchestrating this, he'll get pleasure of knowing when the time is appropriate."

"Why not just bring in the punk?"

"Don't question me! Just do it and as a reward you'll get the privilege of a second injection of the serum."

"Yes sir!" The Warden saluted, the ghost had always been among the more powerful being of the Ghost Zone but after taking the serum he was so much more, and he had enjoyed it. His prisoners cowered to an even greater degree when he went by and with the power he had managed to capture Wulf with it.

"You have as long as it takes. Failure is not an option."

Of course Plasmius did not give Walker any of the information he had; he preferred that his servants be intelligent enough to work things out for themselves. Walker would have to find the boy himself but it would be easy enough, the mansion and portal were just in the outskirts of Jump City.

Walker wandered through the close metal halls of his prison and came to the highest security cell. The thick door slid open and revealed the giant wolf-like Ghost, strapped down in a full body suit bound to the wall. The prisoner growled at him.

"Hello Wulf, this is familiar isn't it?"

_

* * *

_

_The entire time the voice had spoken to her. It was decidedly male; smooth, quiet but assured and confident. Throughout the terrible events of the rise of her father he had been there. It murmured in head, attempting boost her confidence and stem the tides of despair and anguish washing over her._

_He, whoever he was, hadn't left her through it all. He did what she thought no one would, not even her friends, He had remained with her and fought with her. Of course the people whom she had been with for since she arrived on Earth hadn't left her either but the voice was with her at all times though her memory had been removed._

_It had spoken to her when the dawn had slid up in the morning; had arrived after the chill had shuddered through her body as she and Robin had returned to the interior of the Tower. The words it spoke were light and careless and although He knew what was coming; of the doom approaching, unfaltering in its course._

_It refused to reveal who it was as she had questioned its presence and origin many time throughout the travesty. In the beginning it had said 'relax, enjoy the time with your friends they will not abandon you' then Trigon had begun to speak to her while they fought against Slade and his armies. The words of her father had cut deep into her; tailored as they were to play upon her every doubt and fear, the power of the voice was not diminished though. She had felt the unending crashing of power that it shielded her from while Trigon had broken her down. It only this that made it possible for her to remain individual from the demon and able to instil in her friends the magic necessary to protect them from the doom that had befallen them and the doom that was yet to come_

_When the presence in her mind had realized what she was going to do, realized that her decision was made and she thought everything lost it hadn't argued or struggled like her friends. It had accepted her decision but promised that all was not over and it would fight with her until the end. It claimed she would know this when the time was right and she was ready then proceeded to make light of how corny it sounded._

_When she had been cold alone and without any memory, a lost little girl in hellish underground world Trigon had created the voice whispered sweet nothings in her mind. The words meant little but they helped keep from falling into the fear. He had prepared her for when Robin would show up filling parts of her past and reminding her of the friends she had. He had played images, the pieces He had, so she would know and eventually she realized it._

_But she still thought it hopeless and ignored the voice. She said as much to Robin about the hopelessness of it all but he like the voice refused to believe. And it implored her to listen to her friend when all she could do was follow him._

_They met up with the others, her friends. While she stood to the side as Robin explained their position to the other Titans. Her friends remained determined and they would not back down. Robin repeated the words of the voice in her mind._

_Trigon discovered them sealing her friends in a sphere of dark energy their screams piercing her ears. Then one she recognized, Slade, appeared wielding a double ended weapon he struck against the demon and removed part of her father's antler-like horns. The Titans struck valiantly battling against a being far beyond them. And they were winning._

_She cowered behind some rubble watching helpless but stunned, "I don't believe it." She left the cover, "They're-They're hurting him."_

Yes, they are. They fight for you Raven to free you and the world from this evil. _The voice resonated deep within her mind._

_Slade attacked again reeling off a quip before driving Trigon back farther. The giant roared and a red beam shot from his eyes overtaking Slade and the Titans. She raced to Robin, the fallen leader lying helpless, crying and screaming get up._

_Trigon towered above her, "Farewell, dear daughter," another beam of dark energy exited from his eyes and struck her._

_It cleared and she was still crouched down, a white energy protecting her, "H-How . . ."_

"_You may have retained some trace of my power. But you are still no threat to me little girl. I am your creator, your master; you exist only to serve me. What-"_

"_You may think that Trigon but I am not your daughter and she serves no one," the voice spoke as the cloaked being Raven had seen when she first woke up appeared to slip from her body._

"_Hahaha you are just another insignificant mortal, what hope can you have against me boy?"_

_The black and white suited figure drew his hood back revealing grinning teen, "Who says I am mortal?" He turned his head to Raven, "They, we, fight for you. We believe in you even when you don't."_

_The boy turned back to the demon and caught a powerful blast of energy on a green dome shaped shield. He held against the torrent of power and pushed it back. Taking a deep breath he sucked in his abdomen and released a screeching blast of power that washed in blue luminescent waves across Trigon._

_The inter-dimensional demon lord roared in pain and fury as the powerful assault drove him back into the molten rock sea he created. One by one the Titans the regained consciousness and gazed awed as Trigon was forced back. Then the boy collapsed and the waves ceased._

_The demon strode forward again laughing at the boy and at raven who now stood protectively over him, "And what can you do against your all powerful all knowing father girl?"_

_Raven's face set into an expression of determination, "You may have created me . . ." A brilliant flash of white light enveloped her then disappeared revealing her again as a teenager once more, ". . . But you were never my father." White light erupted from her finger tips and struck Trigon._

_He reeled back, "Wretched insignificant-"_

_He screamed as white energy smashed into him again, "Fathers are kind . . . fathers protect you . . . fathers raise you . . ." Raven punctuated each pointed with a blast and Trigon went down roaring, "I was protected by the monks of Azarath, I was raised by my friends, they are my family, this is my home, and you are not welcome here."_

_She rose up into the air white energy swirling around her, an especially bright point being the gem set on her head. Her mantra came forth from her lips and the light flared. A monstrous white raven faded into existence and hit Trigon, his roar echoing one last time before he dematerialized in a blast. It spread out replacing the Armageddon with the original beautiful Jump City._

_Raven floated back down to the ground, white cloak fluttering around her, now long dark hair waving in the breeze and shining in the sun light._

_Starfire flew up, "Raven that was . . ."_

"_Unbelievable." Cyborg finished._

"_No it wasn't. Someone believed." Raven corrected looking first to Robin then to where the mysterious being had collapsed, "I just-"_

_She didn't finish. Where the stranger had been leaning against a pile of debris for support had been there was nothing. The boy that had saved them all by weakening Trigon and helping Raven was gone._

_"Okay! Seriously freaking me out here! Weird guy saves us all then disappears? Dude!"_

* * *

Raven rose back from the ground, a new determination glowing in her eyes. She fazed through the various levels of the tower rising up to the roof using her magic. She appeared through a black splotch on the surface of the roof and drifted out of it. The dark Titan looked at the cloaked figure standing, facing away from her, his hood up, the glowing blue dome still covering both of them.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Phantom asked not turning around.

"I remember if that's what you mean." She answered, "Tell me, why you helped me? You didn't know me, yet you stood by me and against my father."

"Why I did it? I helped you because I know what it is like to know your fate and feel helpless to stop it. I knew you had the strength to face your father but you didn't know it. Strength, power is not what you can put into a fight but your will to resist the forces against you. You had the will but thought that you didn't have the power when they are really one in the same."

"How could you have known anything about it?"

"i have had experience with situations much like what you faced. A . . . well I wouldn't call him a friend, more like a mentor from the Ghost Zone showed me what would happen, the outcomes of the prophecy that had the most likely hood to occur. If I helped you it was more likely that the world would still exist after everything."

"How is that possible?"

"There are a lot of things that should be impossible; a giant red demon lord with a horn crown and the power to destroy our dimension is an example but that happened eleven months ago."

"That still doesn't explain how your 'mentor' could have known what would happen."

Danny turned and drew back his hood showing, for the first time since Trigon, his face to Raven, "Years ago an evil version of my future self came to this dimension and assumed being me. Everything had worked out so that the friends and family I had would be killed in an explosion, it would be called an accident. The 'accident' was supposed to change me and make me try to remove all of my emotion so the pain stopped but it would fail and all of my negative emotion would combine with my ghost half and become a creature of pure hatred that would be the evil future me.

My 'mentor,' a spirit named Clockwork, knew this would happen as he knows everything that has, is and will happen. He intervened and saved the people closest to me when I didn't have any energy to resist left. The darker version of me was defeated and everything went back to normal with no one remembering any of the secrets that had been revealed.

After awhile I realized something. I can't exist somewhere peaceful, every time I try, people end up getting hurt, every time I want to help, people are put in mortal danger. You are lucky; you were created with a purpose, I was an accident."

Raven watched Phantom carefully. He looked exactly like Danny Fenton except for the green eyes and white hair with a black streak instead of black with a white one. It made her wonder if there was a correlation there, it was exceedingly suspicious. As he spoke she had noticed the continuous sorrow seeping into his voice. Never had she ever met a person so buried by their own pain but still able to talk about others.

"I have to go now. We'll talk again soon I think." Danny said turning to leave.

"Wait, I have one more question." He turned back and smiled causing her to blush, "Umm well if you're so close to Danny Fenton do you know what is going on with him?"

". . . He's afraid."

"Of what?" but Phantom was already gone, the blue ice dome disappeared and the rain and wind returned to their normal path. _What could Danny be afraid of? _Raven opened the door of the roof and returned to the interior of Titan Tower, deciding to actually search for and find Danny. She had been distracted by the surge of power from Phantom and hadn't bothered to remember looking for him on her way up.

She went down the stairs, stopping when there was a strange fluctuation of energy but moving to stretch out her consciousness and find Danny anyway. A moment later she found him in his room.

She stood in front of the door listening. Nothing except deep breathing reached her ears and anger rolled through the door continuously. That was last thing she expected, her experience with boys was that when they were angry they liked to hit something to work out their emotions.

"What do you want?" Danny asked when Raven entered the room

"Will you tell me what you are afraid of?"

"No, it was nothing."

"Obviously it wasn't, the way you reacted."

Danny didn't say anything. She moved towards him slowly, taking time in case he was unstable in his control. Raven reached him where he sat on his bed back to her. Her senses were hyper alert leading her to be able to smell him; it was crisp, refreshing and warming, almost entrancing. Tingling started in her nose spreading to the rest of her skin.

She reached out a hand, "Look I can appreciate the need for meditation but-"

Images flashed through mind; a city in ruin, a strange place with doors floating in the atmosphere. Lastly an evil being, laughing insanely burned into her mind. He resembled Phantom but with flaming hair and a long forked tongue. She drew her hand back and fled the room quickly and quietly not saying anything.

Something very strange was going on with Danny Fenton. Raven couldn't figure out how the boy could know about the evil version of Phantom or why it was the image was in his mind. _Is Danny Fenton afraid of Danny Phantom? Why, aren't they friends?_

The half-demon was confused again, she had never been more confused so often then when Danny Fenton or Phantom was involved. The mystery of the bond between the two boys coupled with the strange feeling both physical and emotional that she experienced when around them left Raven in a whirl of thoughts and emotions so severe that her usual emotionless demeanour broke around them.


	8. Meditation

_**Chapter 8: Meditation

* * *

**_

Danny swore to himself for the second time that day. Again he had let information slip that he hadn't meant to. As Phantom he was giving away too much information about his past as the ghost and as Fenton he was giving away too much info about Phantom.

It was long ago when he figured out that he had two personalities. Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were two different people and sometimes his different personalities leeched into his personas. _I wonder if Batman ever had these problems,_he mused to himself, _of course not. He was a real hero._

Raven had seen something that much he knew; it was painfully obvious. He didn't know what she had witnessed but it was pointless to helplessly wonder about it. The demon girl seemed to be deeply affected by what she gleaned from his mind and he could only hope that she would be cautious about what she did with it.

On another note the girl had finally fully remembered his part in the prophecy and the defeat of Trigon. He didn't know whether to be happy or not about it; she knew who Phantom was but why hadn't she been able to remember right away. She most of all should have been able to recall the his part as it was a major turning part in her life and it looked as if the other Titans didn't have any memory of him at all.

He did have suspicions of the cause of the memory blank his new acquaintances suffered from. Clock Work. The spirit was the one who told him about what was going to occur and he was the one who dragged him away at the end of it all. Clock Work was easily capable of removing the memory of people unfortunately or otherwise, he had failed this in regards to Raven. She was directly involved so it was more difficult, the Titans hadn't been so it was easier to completely erase it. The Time spirit was playing a dangerous game affecting events and meddling in his life, it was from Clock Work that Danny had found out about the connection, but he couldn't do much. It was difficult to surprise one who knew all.

But he had bigger problems than worrying about his personal life and meddlesome spirits with god-like powers. Skulker had been fairly normal for his strength but Technus was changed. There was something or someone giving the ghosts power. Even if he had been in practice Technus would have been harder to defeat than normal. It was even stranger that he was looking for Skulker; the two ghosts didn't get along well.

There was only one conclusion that he could come to; someone was giving the ghosts orders and boosting their powers. Danny froze in fear, _what if it is Dan; no it couldn't be. Clock Work had him under guard. Besides the tyrant would never command anyone he would sooner be likely to kill them then lead them._ Well there were ghosts with the ability to bring the others under control. Pariah could do it but his power sources were destroyed and he locked in the sarcophagus, the Fright Knight was too submissive to do it, so was Walker, Skulker was in the thermos.

That left . . . Plasmius. But he was as far as Danny knew still floating around in space. It was possible the he could have gotten back but highly unlikely. Then again it had been nearly a year since he was abandoned in space by the only person in the world who had been his friend. _The evil bastard certainly has the drive and the means._

There wasn't much he could do though. Danny would have to wait and see if anything happened that pointed toward who was behind everything. He had the problem of the Titans too; they weren't fond of him at all. Both of his halves were disliked by the team well except for Raven.

Raven was special though, in the months since the accident she was closest thing to a friend he had, even if she didn't realize it they were close. First there was the connection that they shared; it likely made them more prone to get along not that either of them understood it; but mysteries were part of his life. The second factor was they had both gone through similar things in the past only getting out of disaster because of friends. There were others, he had saved her life twice, he had helped defeat her fate, they had shared a mind for awhile, both of them were pretty isolated.

Of course maybe there might have been something more there. While he was in her mind when the connection, had twisted and entwined making them more than friends_, or whatever you would call us. Maybe there is something to us_? He definitely found her attractive; the dark Goth thing had always gotten to him. He was attached to her because she hadn't yet judged his ghost half as evil, like the other Titans had assumed. He admired the strength she had, remaining defiant even to her demon father.

He wouldn't do anything about it though. He didn't really plan to stay around too long and trying to start something with a girl who hardly knew him or who he was wouldn't be wise, that and he had sneaking suspicions that she and Beast Boy weren't admitting their attraction. He would remain at the most a friend if he managed to get that close.

Things were happening and it would get very interesting in the next few days, Danny knew. The ghosts were back after him but he'd be damned if any of the Titans got hurt because of him. He hoisted his bags onto the bed and opened them. He needed to figure out how to give them the tools to combat the threats that he brought to them. He brought the new dangers so he would bring the new defences, even if they weren't too fond of him.

* * *

A green hawk landed on a gargoyle at the side of a building. The green changeling was exhausted, fighting against the wind and rain took more out of him than he wished to admit. On top of that the youngest team member had found no sign of Danny; he doubted the others had either. In his mind the only thing that made sense would be Danny is still in the tower. Wistfully he thought, _Thunder, Lightning can you guys take brake?_

His communicator beeped and four images came on screen, "Report." Robin's voice came through.

"Friend Danny is not here."

"Yeah man I got nothing on any of my scanners."

"I'm wet and cold and I smell like a soaked dog _and_ I haven't found Danny." BB's whine came from his human form.

". . ."

"Raven?" Robin asked after silence.

"He's in his room."

"What! Dude, we just went through all of that to find he's in his room? Man!"

"You do realize that we live on an island right? It's not likely he would swim to the mainland through this storm." Raven's monotone answered.

"Oh . . . ah, hehehe . . . oops." The image of Raven rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't matter. Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He has some issues but he worked them out . . . he is meditating right now." _At least he didn't have to hit anything._

"Alright, everyone go back home. I'll see you all there. But don't bother Danny let him rest."

The images on the tiny screen blinked off. Beast Boy stretched and shook himself looking very much like the animals he could change into. He liked Danny, the kid was mysterious and all but he was cool in BB's eyes. He had agreed to play against him and Cy on the game station, he wasn't affected at all by Raven's attitude, and he wasn't against tofu.

Half an hour later a green pelican landed at the front door of the huge T shaped tower. BB opened the door in human form before shaking himself as a dog. After five minutes in the tower the young green hero was snoring contently dry and full of tofu in his room.

* * *

He had finished everything. At what was currently about three in the morning he had completed the individual pieces of equipment for the Titans to fight ghosts. He wasn't tired either because of his ghost half's incredible stamina so with the other inhabitants all sleeping, Danny decided to attempt his meditation.

Unlike Raven he did his mediation to pass time not to control his power, only the malevolent creature rampaging around inside his head. He didn't have the need of sleep of very often, so taking inspiration from his time with Raven, Danny turned to meditation for a way to feel refreshed while not actually sleeping; he may not have needed it but staying awake for long amounts of time made him groggy. Better concentration and more control over his emotions were just added bonuses.

He assumed a posture much like the dark teen's; a Lotus Position. He didn't have a mantra, in fact he had no idea what he was doing just that it felt natural and right the way he did it. His figures were hooked together one thumb downward one upward just beneath his solar plexus.

His breath deepened, _in through the nose out through the mouth, in through the nose out through the mouth._Danny fell into himself and arrived at his mindscape; the construction his mind created subconsciously.

For anyone who knew Danny, knew everything about him and his past, they would find his mindscape exactly as they would expect. It was Amity Park on a stretch of rock suspended in a green swirling environment. The city was an exact copy of the real one, with the Fenton Works in the center of it a large glowing green dome completely surround the building on all side. Everything was in the right place; the Nasty Burger, Casper High and the other haunts from his past.

The damage Dan was causing to the mindscape was extensive though, which meant that the damage to his mind was bad too. Around the edges of floating mass of land the buildings were in ruin, collapsed, the stone they were created from blackened. Far above the city floating, just like in the real one, were dozens upon dozens of doors, each one represented a different memory. Danny didn't fail to notice the doors that were blasted open with the remnants hanging loosely on the hinges.

_Well that explains all of the memories coming back. Where are you Dan?_ Danny walked through the barrier going within the perimeter the zone where the manifestations of his emotions could be safe from Dan. He made just in time for the evil cackle rang out and the full grown psycho ghost bashed into the spot where Danny had been but was halted by the force field.

Danny watched him. Dan backed away a few steps and stood glaring at his younger counter part, long forked tongue snaking out. Funny that while not meditating Danny was honestly afraid of Dan and what he did, but when he meditated that the fear faded, replaced by an anger that was actually from him and not Dan.

The ghost-boy entered his childhood home going to the lab that he destroyed in the real world. He smiled when saw the setup; it was very reminiscent of the layout they had when the Disastroid was streaking towards the Earth.

His emotions were scattered about doing different things to counteract Dan; Wisdom, Tucker in other words, sat in front of a huge wall of monitors each showing different areas of the mindscape, Brave, Danny's father, was enthusiastically suiting up with weapons for defence of the base, Happy, who ended up being Jazz, was subdued and stood next to Wisdom. His mother was in a corner beating on bag, she was the righteous anger and indomitable strength that had taken hold when Technus tried to kill Raven. Pacing, dressed in her typical black clothing and combat boots Sam was of course representing Bold. Sad, Rude and Timid were just Dannys dressed in different colors.

All of his negative emotions weren't present. They were actually what Dan was; a terrible combination of his emotions, like Rage, Envy, and Hatred, they had even melded with the cold emotionless part of his ghost side to create the creature that stalked outside the dome. The image of Dan had been taken from his worst memories along with his personality and voice.

It had been painful, at first, to enter his mindscape and see those who had died in the horrible disaster. The first time he had discovered his mindscape Danny had freaked out and broken down. All of the guilt, loathing, anger and jealously had been unleashed during that first time and with his ghost side free as well Dan had been born. Danny hadn't seen the full scope of his emotions before that and when he had tried meditating after the rise and fall of Trigon his mind went to hell.

"Danny, it is good you have arrived. Dan is making more attempts at breaking through he needs to be pushed back again." Wisdom spoke up, for awhile when Danny had first begun meditating Wisdom had been exactly like Tucker, exuberant and excited to fight ghosts, but not anymore. The internal war had changed Danny's mind and emotions.

Danny nodded and induced the change. Here in his mind he experienced no pain when making the switch much like how it used to be. It was required of him to do this regularly, to push Dan back and give his mind a reprieve from the terrorism of Dan. He worked together with Brave and Anger in combat with Wisdom, Boldness and Happy giving tactical advice.

Dan was strong in his mind. It came from the all of the self-loathing, guilt and pain Danny felt. Alone or even with the other emotions Danny could not beat the evil incarnation permanently. He was doomed for the rest of his natural life, or unnatural depending on whom you were, to fight Dan over and over again.

The two who were going to fight alongside him finished gearing up; Fenton Peelers, Jack-O-Nine-Tails, a Fenton Fisher among other weapons were strapped to Brave. Anger, like his actual mom used to, had every assortment of ecto-gun that could be found in the lab her hand or on her body. He inclined his head once to them and phased past the ceiling and the wall to the outside.

While he waited for his partners he observed as Dan flew around the protective seal firing ecto-blasts at it while pounding into it with his body. He snarled and screeched like a wild animal, while inside of his mind Danny found that Dan wasn't very intelligent most of the time. Whenever he had fought the ghost off he was simple and easily fooled but outside of meditation while Danny was conscious Dan was intelligent and manipulative and used Danny's memories against him.

Brave and Anger came up behind him and together they walked out of the protection of the dome. Dan charged them from high above, a green cone forming around him from the speed. Danny crossed his forearms in front of him and braced for the strike. Dan and Danny contacted the force of it driving Danny into the ground, cracks snapping out in all directions from his feet. Dan was pushed back by Danny, the younger ghost flying forward arms charged with ectoplasm. Another battle for Danny's mind had begun.


	9. The Mind is a Powerful Thing

_**Chapter 9: The Mind is a Powerful Thing

* * *

**_

Raven stood and watched as Robin paced angrily in his evidence room. It was actually the first time that she had been in the room; she found that it was typically what she expected of Robin. She actually used to pity Robin for his obsession with crime, at least now though he had Starfire. A tinge of jealously flitted by but she did her best to ignore it.

A fist slammed down, "I don't get it! What is the deal with Phantom! He knows _You_ and acts like a hero but every report of him is as a villain. He kidnapped the mayor of a town for Christ's sake! The feeling from him though, it's cold, angry and full of suffering, it's not good."

"Relax. Take a breath and think. That anger and suffering is not directed outward it is at himself. As much as you hate to admit it you do make mistakes, after the meeting in Terra's cave you automatically assumed he was a villain, now he has saved Beast Boy and you are confused. "

"What about you? You pinned him to building and interrogated him."

A pink tinge crept onto her face, "This is about your feelings not mine. We follow you, make the decision about what you want to do regarding Phantom. You might want to apologize to Fenton too." The words hung in the after Raven stalked out of the room.

Raven was right, Robin knew that. She had been more perceptive and intelligent about approaching the situation although she had lost control once. It was times like this that Robin asked himself if he was right to lead this team. The worries had surfaced before and the team had always reassured him but . . . he wasn't sure.

He needed to apologize to Danny; he didn't blame the teen for reacting the way he did; the Boy Wonder would have done the same thing, exactly the same thing. It was something that he didn't like to do, admit he was wrong. If he was honest it probably came from Batman, the man had been a father to him and still was. Bruce Wayne's alter-ego was not one that liked to say sorry. Of course, he wasn't sure how to apologize.

After apologizing he needed to figure out what he was going to do about the ghosts that kept showing up. He was a leader, in his opinion not a very good one, and as a leader he couldn't expect Raven to handle the threats on her own. The dark arcane sorceress was very powerful but she couldn't be the only one to combat the ghosts even if she was a super hero.

Super heroism. Another thing that made him wonder if he had the right to lead the team. The Teen Titans all had powers; magic, shape shifting, strength, flight, star bolts and an arm that doubled as a sonic cannon. He had nothing of the sort, he was an abandoned street kid taken in by a billionaire and trained to fight, at least Batman had a symbol, was a symbol and would be immortal.

Idly Robin thought about Batman; all of the battles they had fought together and the ones he had heard about especially against the Joker. Batman's battles with the Joker were similar to his battles with Slade. Then again Bruce was better man, all of times he could have killed the psycho and he didn't.

The image of the dead clown; bang flag sunk deep into his chest, body face down on the stone floor with a pool of blood surrounding it; flickered across Robin's vision. Tears welled up in his eyes at the sound of his own insane laughter echoing coldly through his mind. He had killed the Joker and after a year of intensive therapy and counselling, when he had finally gotten past being Little Jay Bruce had just cut him down and out of the picture. No more Robin, no more Batgirl as Barb had left months earlier at twenty years old; angry at Bruce for caring only for the night. Not even Nightwing was still in commission with Dick giving up on trying to get out from under Bruce's shadow.

He couldn't take it. Robin had stolen one of the costumes while Bruce was away and fled to Jump. Disobeying Bruce he took up the mantle of Robin in the city and the second day he was there the Titans formed. Robin knew Bruce was aware of his team; the man had even formed the Justice League and built a space station just for fighting crime, even though he didn't actually join the other six. A great man, but always only concerned with taking down villains.

He laughed bitterly at himself. Funny how one issue brought forth so many others. He had some serious problems that, for his health, needed to be resolved. Ironic how he knew what he needed to do but just couldn't; letting go of the past was not something that he excelled at. He still lived in the shadow of the great Batman and needed to escape that but even Grayson had never been able to, not to mention that Bruce and he never made up after he left.

Robin turned back to his work. Getting through his work was more important than worrying about things that could wait. Maybe when finished with his searching for scraps of knowledge about Phantom and Fenton he could spend time with Starfire. The Tameranian princess had a calming effect on him that was part of the reason he was drawn to her in the first place. Yes, that would be best.

* * *

The glowing green net closed around Dan and hugged him down close to the scorched ground. The condensed emotions burst forth from it and tackled Danny and took to the air dragging the teen behind him by the cape. Dan spun Danny around and around viciously tossing him into the ruin of a building.

Spitting out a globule of green and red blood Danny pulled himself from the pile of rubble he had produced. He had been fighting Dan for hours, at least that was what it was in his mind, in the material world though there was no telling how long it had been. There were many disadvantages to fighting within a mind; time was of no consequence, injuries were made reality by the mind, and exhaustion was still possible. He knew it would interesting explaining to the Teen Titans how his injuries had been sustained.

A green bolt cut a line towards him exploding on contact with the hasty shield he had summoned. His companions Brave and Anger had retreated at his orders but while they had ran away they continued to fire their weapons. It was going like most other times he had fought Dan inside of his mind; never actually defeating the emotions but he was able to push them back and 'injure' them enough that they were repressed for awhile. Like in the real world Dan was defeated by a Ghostly Wail for the most part; the problem was getting the chance to unleash the sound attack.

Dan landed in front him and threw a punch; one arm came up and blocked the other swung into the side of the villain's head driving into a pile of stone. Danny had no mercy for him; wrenching him out of the crater in the pile and plunging him back in. The forehead of his enemy smacked into his nose forcing him away.

More blood flowed from Danny's nose but he managed to catch the kick thrown at him and pound Dan in the chest with an ecto-blast. The green orb sent Dan flying into other destroyed buildings. Taking advantage of the reprieve Danny wiped his face and went after Dan. The problematic mix of emotions and ghostly energy was weakening finally enough for Danny to unleash the best attack that he knew he had.

The snarling from the manifestation still reached his ears from the cleft remaining in the structure. Danny floated into it and had only enough time to swear before he was hit with an ecto-blast of Dan's own. He tumbled through the air head over heels but was able to realign his body to stop. He only had one chance, much more punishment and he would have difficulties walking or standing in the real world.

The half dead teen sucked in a breath, one deep as he could. During his fights in his mindscape he had learned to exert more control over the Wail; he could alter its dimensions, concentration, and power bleed off to the point where he no longer collapsed after using it once. It was only in his mind though, theoretically he could apply the same methods in reality but he had yet to try it.

Danny held it, waiting. Dan appeared looking a little ragged but still ready to fight. In a fight Dan's intelligence was next nothing, he was nothing more than a feral animal wreaking havoc and destruction, so he never recognized the signals that could be read off of Danny. He charged and Danny waited and waited, then with only feet to spare he unleashed the Wail.

Dozens of waves shot out of Danny in a very tight condensed beam like form. Dan's momentum failed and he was thrust into reverse. At impossible speed Dan was pushed backwards through several walls left from destroyed buildings and off the edge of the island. He disappeared into the green environment; Danny wasn't fooled though Dan would be back and he would keep returning until finally he won and destroyed Danny's sanity or Danny found a way to separate the emotions and the ghost energy and keep each restrained.

Danny faded away as if he had gone invisible. He really had just exited the trance and his meditation. The ice blue eyes he was known for in Amity Park flashed the bright green of ectoplasm then reverted back to blue. He huffed and smiled wiping sweat and blood from his face.

Limping and holding his dislocated left shoulder he moved into the hallway intent on making it to the washroom. He hadn't realized the extent of his injuries until he had stood and tried to stretch out what he thought was soreness. The door to Raven's room was open; he glanced in and saw her staring at him quizzically as he staggered by, her book forgotten in her lap.

He slapped his hand down on the button to open the door to the washroom. It slid open and he stumbled in. _Thank you Sam, thank you_, she had been the one to force him to take online first aid classes so he could patch himself up, or help her do it, after the battles. Ignoring the unlocked door of the bathroom Danny prepared for his self administered first aid.

None of the injuries Danny had were actually new to him; he had suffered from most physical injuries imaginable during his ghost battling career. His reset his shoulder against the wall so he could strip his shirt off. He examined his body clinically categorizing the injuries by habit. _Sprained left ankle, broken nose, split lip, loose teeth, heavy lacerations on left side, large third degree burns on chest, and dislocated right shoulder,_ the list cycled through his much clearer mind.

He was no stranger to pain physical and emotional; physical was definitely easier to deal with. Most people probably wouldn't be able stand much less perform their own first aid but Danny could. His body was already lessening the pain and once it was gone the actual repairs would begin, in one or two days he would be back in perfect condition.

Sink on and a first aid kit out on the counter Danny started cleaning and wrapping the wounds; it wasn't necessary but it kept them clean and from rubbing on his clothing. Danny looked up as the door opened eyes wide.

* * *

Raven left Robin to think. She returned to her room. Her outlook may have changed with the fall of her father but her room was still very much the same; dark with deep purples, blues and blacks, the walls were lined with book shelves full of . . . books, a few statues sat on the shelves or on small tables. The only real noticeable difference was two pictures on the end table beside her bed, one of the children she had bonded with while on a mission and one of her and the team in front of Mount Fuji in Japan taken just prior to when they came back a month before.

The room still smelt of the incense she had used in a spell for finding the books on ghosts and spirits that she had from the hundreds of others. Her chamber needed to air out so she didn't bother to close the door, she wasn't doing anything that required privacy anyways.

A pile of books lay beside where she sat cross legged on the bed; the ones that the spell had found each had mentions of ghosts or spectres and spirits. Raven selected a book from the top,

A scuffling sound made her look up from it and she saw a rather heavily injured Danny Fenton struggling up the hallway. _That was interesting . . ._ She turned back to her book.

Worry creased her brow; most the things mentioned in the large tome were extremely dangerous sounding. With so many ghosts now appearing in the city it would illogical not to that these objects wouldn't also show up as well. It would be just their luck for some psycho to get their hands on one or more of them.

Her powers found him in the washroom; it was getting easier to find him quickly. She just opened the door seeing as it wasn't locked he couldn't need privacy that bad. The sight that greeted her surprised her; the boy was shirtless, a long strip of bandaging hanging from his mouth while his right arm had been wrapping it around his left, he was staring right at her like a deer in headlights with the bandage gripped in his teeth.

It was both comical and embarrassing to her. Blushing against her will, and maybe stifling a laugh; she closed the door and walked back to her room almost running. The hot flush in her skin traveled all the way down to the bottom of her ribs, she shook her head trying to clear it but she couldn't help the image of the hard rippling muscle on Danny's chest, shoulders and abdomen, obvious underneath his pale skin.

_No, Raven stop it._She reprimanded herself actually blushing more that the visions wouldn't go away. _You're not supposed to be like this, a blushing fool. No time for such things._ Raven said these things mentally but she could have sworn a giggle and a sigh sounded in her head. _Don't even think about it, you. We do not want that._ The impression of a pout was the reply followed by a raspberry.

Her next thought was interrupted by a knock at the door. _Of course he comes to the door_. The half demon knew that Danny wouldn't leave until he knew why she came to the washroom; at the minimum he was going to tell her it was free. She rolled her eyes and went to the door opening it partially, just enough to see him.

Fortunately he had replaced his shirt so she asked the simple question, "What?"

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"What makes you think that?" how dare he assume something like that.

"Well you saw me walk by; where else would I be going injured like I am in the middle of the night, As a guest in a building with five well trained powerful teen super heroes but the washroom? So you, being intelligent, would be able to infer that and know that the washroom on this level was occupied. Then there's the fact that you are holding the only book with true information on ghost relics in the world written by a madman named Freakshow and I happen to be probably your only contact with reliable firsthand experience with all things ghost."

To say the answer surprised her was an understatement. The homeless teen was very perceptive, "You're more aware than most." She opened the door all of the way.

"Ha, comes with growing up with parents who were complete nuts. What did you want to know?"

"What do you know about these?" She asked the question and shoved the book towards him opened to the page.

"The Reality Gauntlet, the Infi-map, Pandora's Box . . ."

"All relics?"

"Yes, and Ghost relics too. Some of the power in these is incredible, terrifying but exhilarating. Most are safe though; there is too much evil this world and the others for there to not be guards for them.

But then you would know all about the evil that exists. Relax Raven, I'm not accusing you or anything I am just aware of the things that you and your team have faced together. Such strength is rare; it makes the world a better safer place when there are heroes like you and the Titans and the Justice League. I know I have more confidence in the safety of the people when there are competent good heroes to protect us all."

". . ."

"Then again life is risk and pain. Where would people be without the anguish and suffering of everyday life? It's what makes us all human, so to speak."

"Okay. What happened earlier? What is going on with this whole thing? What's with Phantom and you?"

"I told you nothing is going on, what are you looking for Raven? I'm a poor homeless kid that your friends decided to take in for a few days. What do you want to find? Sure I know Phantom, big deal, you know him as well, and you've seen what he can do. If you want answers leave me out of it."

"I'm sorry. I'm not the best with people . . . and everything's so different now; I feel different, I act different. I think Phantom knows why and I want to know what is happening to me." Raven confessed in a rush. It was the most she had ever really revealed about to anyone outside the Titans. After only a few days of knowing Fenton she trusted him more than she had trusted Robin after several months.

She closed the door and fell back into her mind ignoring everything else. She didn't go to her emotions; or the mindscape that existed due to her psychic abilities. She just fell into blackness to think. The mental changes; new emotions, new behaviours, so much it was hard to take.

And that 'little niggling feeling at the back of her mind' she had felt, just as Phantom said, was stronger. She was picking up emotions from it now; quick flashes, not enough for her to do or know really anything but they weren't hers and that scared her.

* * *

Danny stood at the double sliding doors to the Ops Center, this was the big moment, all of the Titans were in the room and he had the weapons ready for them. He just hoped that they didn't react badly to him because of the way he had acted the night before. He had tried to create something for each of the Titans and he would be lying to himself if he said it hadn't been difficult.

He walked into the room. They were all on the huge black couch watching the news probably trying to figure out if any villains had gotten out of the cryogenics they were all frozen in still. Only Raven wasn't actually watching the big screen she was reading another book.

He walked in front of the screen and spoke before the others could, "I'm sorry for my behaviour last night, obviously I have issues but so does everyone else. I would also like to apologize for your having to go out in that storm because of me. To make it up to you guys I have and to pay for staying here I have put together some things for fighting ghosts that each of you will be able to use without problem."

He brought the bag full of everything he had made onto the table in front of him and opened it, "Starfire, I found a way for star bolts and your other powers to affect ghosts." Danny pulled out a simple necklace and held it up it was completely white except for an oval on the chain, which glowed green, "This is made of an alloy that parents developed for ghost weapons it's so dense that ghosts can't phase it, the amulet contains an ectoplasmic charge that hopefully will be able to charge your powers with ectoplasm."

"Oooh. It's beautiful." Star floated forward and took it from Danny looping it over her head. "It tickles," she giggled.

"That will fade. It should mean its working. Next Cyborg and I think yours was the hardest to create." He pulled out a bracelet sized ring. It too was white but with green veins travelling around it, "This fits around your wrist, the one with the cannon on it. When that mechanical process occurs this should expand with it and sit at the very edge of it. The bracelet is designed to work with you tech and it will add ectoplasmic energy to your sonic blasts."

"Sweet." He put it on and switched his arm into the cannon, the bracelet worked as described, Cyborg aimed down it, "Booyah."

"Robin you were easiest to outfit, all of your gadgets are fairly simple to incorporate other features into." An assortment of rings, and flat circular pieces came out of the bag all were white with green veins. "You just need to add them to your gear. I still have to rig up a new staff for you out of my parents' alloy."

"Thanks. Sorry about yesterday." Robin took the items and began adding them to his equipment.

"Finally, Beast Boy. I'm sorry but with your constant shape changing I couldn't figure anything out that would morph with you so . . ." Danny brought forth a bottle or glowing green liquid.

"Dude. What is this?"

"Ah hahaha. It's umm . . . well its nail polish." Danny couldn't help the nervous laugh.

"What! Dude that's for chicks!"

"Hey calm down. It's the only thing that would remain with you through your changes; this way if the animal has claws you can hurt ghosts."

Beast Boy looked like he was about to complain more but a look from Robin silence him.

"Raven your powers already affect ghosts so I didn't make anything for you but I did find a book in my collection that might interest you." he reached into the bag. "My mother was a bit of a basket case she, collected anything super natural or otherwise similar-"

Danny never finished because a large werewolf like ghost dressed in tattered green clothing burst into the room through the roof, the light blue mist of Danny's sixth sense trickled out from his mouth. The Titans immediately went on guard their new weapons snapping up, breaking from the state of rapt attention they had all fallen into waiting for Danny to give Raven a gift.

No one did anything as Danny walked towards the wolf ghost, the creature vicious looking with large gleaming white teeth, long green claws and powerful muscles, and reached out a hand touching its muzzle, "Wulf?"

"Friend . . . Danny . . ."


	10. A Battle Begins

**_A/N: so here I am again apologizing profusely for the incredibly long delay between this and the chapter 9. To be honest recently I haven't been able to get into reading this but in the past 4 days I pushed through and reached a second wind (like when you run for long distances) so this 7, 851 words of actual pumped out. I hope I did alright. So Read, Enjoy it if you can and Please review and tell me what you think._**

* * *

**_Chapter 10: A Battle Begins_**

* * *

He knew the effect of ghosts, the ones hit with the extra power increase, had on Raven. It was almost a subconscious act; Danny enveloped the dark girl's mind with his, reaching out through the connection they shared. Powerful ghosts had a mental attack on living creatures around them as well; it pained her more than then norm. It must have been the ectoplasmic charge with the mental spike of the ghosts. Regardless, his mind would protect hers from the pain and keep her able to function.

Mentally Danny blinked, _how did I do that? Agh never mind it now, something is wrong with Wulf. Focus on Wulf._

Danny looked at his friend, an ally he hadn't seen in so many moths. Wulf had changed, not in stature he still stood at the huge nine feet he always had but the ghost looked far worse for wear than Danny had ever seen him. The green glowing clothing he normally wore, an already ragged outfit composed of a T-shirt and pants were nearly destroyed. They hung in tattered shreds from his muscled body and did nothing to hide the terrible scarring that threaded over his body.

Danny's blue eyes picked up on the silvery-white sheen of the ghost proof alloy that made up all ghost weapons. Even for all he had seen in the years he had battled against the creatures that inhabited the only dimension parallel to his own, the sight that found his eyes horrified him. The orbs followed the thick metal cords that wound around Wulf's limbs to a central hub that looked as if it was embedded in the flesh of his chest. The skin around the octagonal hub was an angry raw green that pulsed with ectoplasmic energy; areas of skin in the same condition were present where the cords contacted Wulf's body.

Wulf shrieked in pain when suddenly the device lit up with bright green power and it coursed through his body. He dropped to the floor, clawing feebly at the air. Danny watched in silent horror for he could nothing directly to help Wulf until the charge was done with. The scent of burning hair and flesh rose up with dark smoky fumes, permeating the air. The Titans, except for Robin and Raven, flinched at the brutality of the device.

The charge stopped and Danny fell to his friend's side, "Wulf. Wulf, what the hell is going on? Who did this to you?"

The ghost pushed himself up and managed to spit out, "Estis Walker. . . Plasmius kaj li havas kontrolon dum ili ĉiuj."

The color of Danny's eyes darkened as anger flowed through him unchecked, "Vlad." Danny could only snarl the name of his arch enemy.

Robin looked between the two ghosts and asked what his team was wondering, "Danny, who is this? What is going on?"

Danny did not reply to Robin but kept speaking to Wulf, "Vlad is doing this but who is all of them Wulf? The ghosts? What has happened in the Ghost Zone?"

Wulf looked through glazed pain filled eyes, he was obviously exhausted and Danny didn't even know how he found him. "Plasmius havas conquera viajn malamikojn ĉiujn, li havas armeon! ili faris ion al ankaŭ si sed mi ne scias kio . . ."

Beast Boy leaned over to Raven and whispered in her ear, "Rae, what's up with the weird language? What are they saying? And why does Danny have a giant ghost werewolf friend?"

The dark Titan's eyes slid slowly sideways to look over at the green boy. The pools glared at the member of the famous team before turning back to the conversation between the strange human and the mysterious ghost.

The rage inside grew more. _That bastard! He was EXILED! Left for the vacuous darkness of space and yet he still came back. _Danny took a deep calming breath suppressing the rage with effort and keeping Dan from beginning to speak. "Wulf I'm sorry about this. I swear to you I'll get this thing off of you and free you."

"Danny!" Robin shouted at his Team's guest loudly.

Danny's head snapped around, "What do you want Robin? Can you not see that I am busy?"

A vein in Robin's forehead throbbed dangerously and he gritted his teeth, "What. Is. Going. On."

A cold shiver crawled up Danny's spine and blue fog trickled forth from his mouth before he could reply. Amazingly enough none of the Titans seemed to notice anything strange or abnormal. Danny turned his head slowly to look behind him, past the screen of the giant television and out the floor to ceiling windows. A familiar white clad ghost drifted through into view followed by what Danny could only call a small army of his goons.

They floated in even ranks, Walker heading the malcontents. Danny's hands clenched at the sight, the stench of crisped flesh and singed hair still hanging heady in the air. It was then Danny realized that device was really and truly harming Wulf. Ghosts had regenerative abilities; they were what made the spectral entities immortal but they could be harmed and pushed past the afterlife. It was a hard thing to do, however, this device, this cruel thing, was ripping Wulf apart.

"Well hello there punk." The cold vocal of one of Danny's stronger nemeses echoed with chilling strength through the cavernous room.

* * *

Raven was reading one of the more interesting books on spectral things she had in her possession. There was a surprising amount of information inside this particular volume.

"―is not what most people consider to be ghosts. There are many creatures and beings grouped within the simple term 'ghost;' ghouls, spectres, spirits, poltergeists, wisps and any other more obscure variety of what are coined 'after-spirits.' A ghost is often thought to be the remaining spirit of one who has departed this in case and point is untrue. A ghost is an amalgamation of human emotion and memory that gains access to ectoplasm and a will of its own. A departed person's essence lingers for a varying amount of time depending on the inherent will of the one who has died. If this essence becomes imbued with the unpredictable and mysterious energy that is ectoplasm it becomes a ghost.

However, this does not mean that all ghosts are sentient. For a ghost to be sentient it must have or acquire an obsession; this may occur at any point during the period before the person died and became a ghost (resulting usually in a spirit) or as a result of the experiences of a ghost while in a non-sentient state (resulting in just a ghost). An obsession is anything, money, power, anything, anyone, place, or state of being.

The obsession consumes the ghost, it ends up becoming their entire being; the obsession drives everything they do. They can think only of their obsession, every moment of an existence without rest. It calls to them, they focus solely on their obsession, thinking about it, caring for it, carrying it out, and maintaining it. The obsession of a ghost is just what the ghost is, their inherent nature.

Spirits are different from ghosts in that they sentient in their creation and not after a period of time. Spirits tend to be ancient and powerful, their obsessions different from those of regular ghosts―"

Raven glanced up coolly as Danny entered the room and walked past her with one of his bags. _Who are you?_ It was a question that was plaguing Raven. Even without engaging in any telepath or empath abilities there was a constant stream of tangled emotion trailing off the boy. The mystery surrounding the boy was reminiscent of the mystery that had shrouded her. It had been kept in place for safety, to protect herself from the pain of trust.

Raven's deep eyes followed him for a short time. As much as she hated to admit it to herself and that multiple selves that manifested her emotions and the decade she had trained to keep them hidden, Danny was not an unattractive person. She blinked, _that's not good._ The image from the night before flickered before her eyes and heat crept down her chest. Her black leotard seemed constricting and overly warm. Maybe it was the eyes that struck her most of all; their clear icy blueness mesmerized her far more than what she would like. The elegant and slim power of his jaw. . . Raven grimaced. _Why is this happening? _She sighed.

She had never been like this before. This . . . physical attraction she felt, if that is what it was, was not something she wanted. She was free of Trigon. Raven didn't want anything else, had no interest in anything else. That incessant voice that had pestered her with increasing frequency made a disappointed noise in her head. _Why am I losing control?_

_We all know that you know why, Raven. Just admit it, it will be easier._ Wisdom was even starting to act out and that wasn't good. Her emotions were acting out. The bleed off from the feeling that Phantom had mentioned probably wasn't helping much. The connection, he must have felt it too. It was probably to him, another development she wasn't fond of. That connection was making her own emotions test her control.

She could contemplate these problems―_are they really problems . . . NO, yes they ARE problems. I am not thinking about those things. _Raven took a deep breath; the time for pondering her problems was over. Danny was doing something, whatever it was the other Titans were gathered around him. She floated over and settled in behind the others to watch.

Again she marvelled at the strange sides to Danny Fenton. He was giving out gifts now, weapons to fight against ghosts. Obviously he thought there would be more of them showing up. Danny Phantom held much the same likeness to Danny Fenton with their swinging moods and mysterious characters. Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts, Raven treated a rare small smile at the item Beast Boy was given.

She was taken aback when Danny addressed her, Raven's powers already affect ghosts. Why would she need a gift? Perhaps Danny had some view that the Titans should be treated equally. It didn't matter, just as Danny was reaching into his bag for her gift another wave of cold hit. Her brow twitched but the wave was not as severe as before with the ghost who had proclaimed himself Technus 2.1 and she managed to retain a barrier against it. The intensity of the cold grew stronger an instant after it began and a large wolf like creature burst forth from the ceiling.

Despite the burning cold assaulting her mind she raised her hands ready to use the sorceress' magic she wielded. She felt her brow twitch again as she watched Danny reach out and touch a hand to the creature who had appeared. Puzzling that the teen knew a second ghost who must not have been all that bad, realizing this Raven straightened and relaxed her magic focussing on keeping the telepathic barrier up holding back the chill.

The creature spoke, its voice seemed mangled and gravelly but it was clear; 'friend . . . Danny.' A moment after Raven saw Danny's eyes flick to her the pressure of the cold abated. It was replaced by more, even stronger cold but this time it was different. The searing pain of it seemed tempered by something, a warmth. She could even catch wisps of emotion from it; worry, anxiety, friendly care, it was . . . better. Better than the influx of painful emotions that she had been experiencing since Danny and Phantom had shown up.

The emotions began to change. It was slow at first but with a sharp shriek the creature that had shown up collapsed and flesh began to burn and the emotions changed suddenly to an empathetic pain. Raven remained impassive reining in emotions. She notice Robin managed the same she did.

Danny dropped beside the wolf-ghost and spoke in low tones to it. It replied in strange language, incomprehensible to even the well versed sorceress. The wall surrounding her mind, protecting her changed very suddenly; terrible rage spilled through the wall. Even blocked off from the anger Raven was surprised at its intensity and power, she could feel it through the separation and her own walls.

Danny and the creature spoke more. Beast Boy, _the green fool, _Raven thought, leaned over and whispered at her. He was asking foolish questions and she silenced him with a glare. The force protecting her mind, something she hadn't thought to consider the implications of, changed and the anger faded rapidly away replaced with a calm and sereneness. It was surreal and not a little unnerving.

Robin shouted at Danny. Raven did not here the conversation, something was approaching. _Another one . . . _Raven's eye widened . . . _a big one._ She could feel the ghost approaching. The protection was stopping the shocking and debilitating cold from reaching her. Still, Raven could feel it coming closer. _It's not alone either . . ._ Raven could feel dread creeping through her. That in itself was not a good thing, Raven never felt dread; excluding the incident with Trigon but even then Phantom had alleviated much of it during the actual battle.

The shield flared and at the same moment a ghost in a pristine white suit materialised through the windows and TV followed closely by a force of troops dressed in . . . _riot equipment? Why . . . _Raven felt the out for the obsession mentioned in her book. It was a risk, reaching past and through the force guarding her mind but when she attempted it she felt a presence turn in to observe her. The wall gained sapience and Raven could feel it watching her through her own shields. It seemed to nod and a hole opened up in it allowing the telepathic forces outside to stream through.

Raven gasped stricken with the presence. She fell to her knees as the cold crashed into her mind unchecked_. Order . . . rules . . . regulations, the need to enforce . . . the need._ It consumed what thought she had. It struck in a monstrous slamming action overwhelming her. _Everyone must obey . . . the rules cannot be broke . . . will not be broken. Lawbreakers will be punished . . . punished. All rules will be enforced . . . all will obey._

The presence in the wall pushed and for a moment nothing happened and Raven was left to the merciless assault. With some difficulty the hole that her protector had opened closed and the dark sorceress was given respite.

She found herself lying on the floor of the Ops Center. She blinked a few times, her eyes having rolled up into the back of her head. She took stock of what had happened; The Titans were watching her concerned glancing back and forth between her and the new ghosts. Raven surmised that only a few seconds had passed and Danny was facing down the white ghost.

That few seconds had seemed like hours. Hours upon hours. She knew now what the book had meant. _Inherent nature; it's almost . . . sad. I wonder; does Phantom have an obsession? He seems different, warmer._

She looked at the new ghost. An enforcer of rules, it made sense. He appeared to almost a warden. Clearly he was the leader of the troop now in the team's home. Danny looked back over his shoulder at her, an unreadable expression adorning his face. He turned back to the new creature.

* * *

Danny moved his gaze back to Walker. He had no idea what he was doing but it appeared the connection between him and Raven was a lot stronger than he had anticipated it ever becoming. That sort of telepathic interaction was new to him. In fact he had no experience with telepathy and the mind powers beyond overshadowing people.

He had bigger concerns than the connection though; there was newly very powerful Walker standing before him. Besides he had no problem sharing a connection with the girl he had saved from her own father. He found her fascinating . . . not to mention beautiful. She was a half-breed like himself. She was different just as he was; purple hair to black with a white streak or white with a black streak, pale gray skin to pale white, deep blue-purple eyes to brilliant blue or green, they were both unique even among the teen superhero world or meta-human world.

There was more to her than the 'Goth thing.' It may have first piqued his physical attraction to her but he had seen more of her now physically and characteristically; the tight fitting leotard left little to the imagination and the connection allowed him to grab small insights into her character. Even now he found himself seeing the smooth supple skin of her legs, the curve of her hips, the slim set of her shoulders . . . _snap out of it Danny! Deal with Walker then think about the pretty girl. Get your priorities straight! _He snapped at himself mentally.

Regardless of any mental connection or physical attraction he felt for her there was more to her than what he saw. So much was hidden; she was inquisitive and studious about the strange and supernatural, much the same as he. The most he knew was guesses made from the time spent in her head and small snatches from the link, paltry to what he wished to know.

"Walker, I thought we had finished with your submissiveness to long ago." Danny said in a low dangerous voice to his foe.

Walker frowned, "I see we have done away with the banter boy. And that Wulf has still managed to somehow give you information. No matter, He has asked that I bring him the source of the ghost-child's power but perhaps you will please Him enough."

"What makes you think I would come with you?"

Walker grinned, "You have no choice punk. The rules must be enforced and He makes the rules now." With a speed he had not possessed before Walker seized Danny around the throat and lifted the struggling boy off the ground. The Warden turned to the Titans who had readied weapons once again, "Leave this between me and the convict and none of you will be hurt. Try and stop us and you will be charged with breaking the rules and receive the consequences that follow such a charge."

Danny, still struggling valiantly, looked over at the Titans. He had no idea whether or not they would fight Walker and his goons, maybe just to test out the new toys they had. No matter how he tried the halfa could not move the white gloved fingers from his neck. Walker had certainly had the same strength boost that Technus had received, maybe more.

A black tendril lashed out and cut across the arm holding him up. He dropped to his knees and massaged his throat. Danny looked over to see Raven engrossed in her power; her hands raised and her cloak flowed out around her fluttering in an unfelt wind. He noticed a surprising amount of anger in her eyes and for moment he did not move.

Walker had recoiled from the hit but now he snarled at the girl from Azarath. She faced him down and the other Titans could only look at her strangely for a moment before Robin and Beast Boy dropped back to prepare their new toys frantically while Cyborg and Star moved up beside her. Danny started to move grabbing the bag beside him and diving away from the invading ghosts. Wulf staggered after the device paining him even while not active.

Robin slipped his gear together with ease, modifying his regular weapons with only seconds passing, meanwhile Beast Boy was having trouble, "Come on, come on. Stupid thing!" The small framed green teen could not open the small container of glowing nail polish.

"You have made a decision then, very well. Detain the Fenton boy, get rid of the rest." Walker stood, arms crossed as his soldiers marched forward.

Raven and Danny's eyes locked for a second and he gave her a small nod. Robin commanded his team, "Raven get Danny out of here! We'll distract them."

The team blocked Raven and Danny from the ghosts, BB still trying to get the small bottle to open. Cyborg`s arm shifted into the sonic cannon, now with a green tinge. He fired it and dragged the beam through the ghosts disintegrating several from the first few ranks. Raven and Danny, who was supporting Wulf, hurried out of the room.

"Pleasu . . . friend . . . forigas ĉi tiun aparaton el mi. Ĝi kaŭzas doloron . . . tiom da doloro . . ."

Danny nodded as the two of them moved ahead of Raven; she was throwing up several walls of her black energy to hold back any pursuit as they hurried along. "As soon as we can Wulf, as soon as we can."

Raven floated forward next to them, "What is saying? I don't know the language."

"It's Esperanto, a sort of bastardized language. Wulf, his name is Wulf," Danny smirked slightly despite the circumstances, "Not very imaginative but he is a very close friend. He wants this thing on him off, probably so he can fight."

The trio whipped around a corner, "And how would we do that?"

"Should be able to with the equipment in my room, come on." They took another corner and raced as quickly as they could with the injured ghost down a set of stairs then the long straight stretch.

* * *

The green glow lit up her hands, the glow intensified with the new piece of jewellery she wore. Starfire spun off several star bolts into the crowd of strange ghosts and felt the fierce joy of battle as they hit the targets and dissolved them. She was Tameranean, a culture based on prowess in battle. Before she hadn't been able to fight these strange creatures and her honour tarnished, allowing only Friend Raven to fight against them. But now her honour was restored thanks to Friend Danny and the battle was at hand.

She could forgive him, maybe. He had threatened to harm Boyfriend Robin, no one harmed Robin. Green energy shot forth from her eyes and disabled more of the troops. Danny was a strange earth boy, stranger than Beast Boy or Cyborg or anyone else she had met. He had pain, lots of pain. She could see it in his eyes, and they always seemed to be watching Raven. Starfire thought that maybe that was a good thing; Friend Raven was always so alone. Maybe her closest friend and Danny could become close; Starfire hoped they would.

She watched the white clad ghost gazing past the three Titans who were fighting and the one who was still struggling to get ready to the double doors and the hall where Raven, Danny and the wolf thing had disappeared to. Their opponents fired green beams of ghost energy from the black rods in their hands; the Titans dodged them, though Beast boy cowered with his bottle of nail polish. When Starfire looked back to where the leader had been he was gone.

* * *

Beast Boy grumbled to himself. Of course it had to be him who was stuck with the stupid bottle of _nail polish_. Cy would never let him live it down if he didn't get the bottle open and get into the fight but the damn thing wouldn't open. Suddenly the seal gave way and the lid started to turn rapidly. Just then a bunch of green rays, the kind Phantom shot out, flew past him and BB yelped and lay flat cradling the bottle.

"Hey Grass Stain! What's taking you so long? Having trouble with your _nail polish?_" BB growled at Cyborg's jeering tone.

The mechanical man ate his words moments later as a tiger with luminescent green claws leaped past him and into the fray. Beast Boy would show Cyborg, he let out a loud roar. Some troops converged upon him and the tiger pounced and whirled around the ghosts slashing each he came near.

Whoever these guys were, they weren't very good fighters. The leader, the guy in the white suit had disappeared and that made him uneasy. He had seemed very powerful even to BB. Phantom was also one who seemed very strong, even if the dude had some serious issues of some sort. And the way Phantom spoke to Raven, the green Titan knew they hadn't but it was as if the strange ghost had met Rae before. She was his friend, a close one; well he hoped she was his close friend and BB didn't want her to get hurt at all. Not after all that had happened to her in the time she had been with their not so small team.

The tiger morphed into a large velociraptor that dodged between two of the ghosts and attacked another group. At least these ghosts were easy to defeat. They wanted Danny though, and Raven was with Danny. Maybe that was where the white suited guy had disappeared to.

* * *

Danny, Raven and Wulf ducked sideways through the sliding door that led to Danny's room. The halfa took control, he had to. This was after all his area of expertise and Walker was closing in on them pretty fast, Danny could sense the ghost.

"Rae, seal the room, the whole room. Walker can't be allowed in here while I am working on Wulf." Danny turned and looked at the girl with whom he shared a connection.

Raven looked at Danny for a second before turning back to the door and pushing out a black dome. He hadn't noticed the use of her shortened name, one that only those close to her were allowed to use without repercussions.

Danny made Wulf lie down on his bed then he dropped to the floor and reached beneath it. He dragged out two white silk sheets revealing an array of ghost technologies. Most were dismantled, used in his efforts the night before to produce the Titans' new weapons. Taking four Spectre Deflectors, Danny tied his friend down to the steel bed frame. Wulf too overcome with the constant pain being burned into him with a persistent dullness to even notice.

The doorframe and the surrounding wall crumbled apart revealing the Warden ghost firing his pink and purple hued ecto-ray. Muted through the black shield Walker pounded on it with his fists; standing at the large jagged hole he had left in the original wall. Raven flinched very slightly at the impacts and Danny tore his eyes away from the scene and returned to his work.

He swore loudly, _God I hate freaking _multitasking. He had disassembled all of his ecto-guns making the power sources for the gifts he had created for the Titans. Nothing but things that could only serve to create at the most part of what he needed desperately to make were left from his efforts to protect the Titans. With nimble fingers he constructed what he could of a hand held blaster then paused. What could he do? Danny hesitated then flexed his neck before grabbing the jury rigged Fenton Thermos he had made and ripped it apart.

"Hurry up Danny, I can't manage this much longer!" Raven growled from the side of her mouth, her hood falling back onto her shoulders. Her teeth were clenched from the effort; a shield of this magnitude was not difficult to maintain for a short period of time but with a powerful ghost beating on it there wasn't much she could do.

Danny mounted the Thermos' storage unit for excess ectoplasm into the blaster and jumped atop Wulf. He straddled his large friend's abdomen and pressed the short barrel into the device. He pressed the priming button and charged up a large pulse of ectoplasm then pulled the trigger, looking into Wulf's small eyes.

* * *

Starfire fired off a salvo of star bolts into another crowd of the ghost creatures, trying to even the odds for the battle a little more. She was hit with a sudden light headedness; her vision blurred, her fingers tingled and she swayed. Shaking it off the Tameranean princess shot more energy from her eyes. The ghosts hit were out of the battle but the effects to her were worse now, she collapsed completely.

Starfire's skin felt hot and flushed an angry greenish color flooded it splotching her orange skin with dark spots. She groaned; her arms and legs tingled, her skin turned from hot to burning painfully. She couldn't see properly everything had become a blurry mess. Rocking back and forth on the floor she could barely even move.

Something slammed into her shoulder. Star tried to rise even a little but her body refused to respond, her muscles went weak. Shadows seemed to fall across her as more objects bashed against her. With detached realization the cheerful warrior knew it was some of the ghosts. They were hitting her.

Her head throbbed terribly. She felt the darkness approaching. Was she going to die? Fear entered her clouded mind, she couldn't die. Not yet, not after so little time with her Robin. Life, her life had so much more time left to it. What would become of her friends? What would become of Danny? What about Raven? Robin?

Dimly a hoarse, deep shout reached her ears. Robin. It was Robin's voice; he was coming to save her, to pull her back from the heat. She struggled to remain aware of what was happening.

The shadows disappeared. Strong arms wrapped around her and she felt herself be lifted from the floor. A soothing cold enveloped her skin; slowly it crawled inwards brushing away the heat. Her vision became clear enough for her to make out some features of her rescuer. A white cloak rested upon the silhouette's shoulders, a hood with a black interior covered it's head. She recognized the white hair peeking out from the hood and the green of the glowing eyes in the hood's depths. Phantom had saved her.

They had moved only a few steps then Star was handed off to another. It was a familiar embrace, one she had spent hours in during the past months just laying in somewhere private and talking about anything that came to mind. Her lips turned up in a small smile. She was safe. Starfire sunk into unconsciousness knowing she was going to be okay

* * *

Robin saw Starfire go down. He snarled and rushed at her but was checked back by the horde of ghosts. The Boy Wonder was a flurry of movement, trying to beat aside the press of the police-like goons holding him from his girlfriend.

He shouted out for Star when they began to beat her. Only a small movement was her response. Anger hardened into determination, a consuming drive for Robin to reach his love. He wouldn't allow this to happen, couldn't allow it. Robin would be a poor leader, a poor boyfriend if any harm came to his team member; to the girl he had fallen in love with.

With savage strength he threw himself at the horde. His Bo staff cut through the throng but caused no damage. The weapon, his most trusted weapon did nothing against the ghosts forcing him back. Angrily he cast it away, furious at himself for forgetting that no modifications had been made to the weapon to allow it to be effective against the creatures. Two birdarangs appeared in each of his hands, their edges a light with the green of ectoplasmic energy.

Two of the ghosts disappeared with large gashes cut into their chests. Robin's frustration mounted and his movements became sporadic, reckless even. An arm grabbed his shoulder and he spun around with a deadly gleam in his eyes. He stopped seeing his friend, the flesh side of Cyborg's face serious with a look that said 'stop.'

The half robot looked at Robin for a second before switching to past the masked teen's shoulder, "Look."

Robin turned and saw the back of a white cloak. Phantom. Green rays shot from the strange ghost's hands and a sizeable portion of the enemies around Star disappeared. Phantom glided forward with a measured ease and calm. Any soldier that approached was blasted away by the green energy. The ghost reached the Tameranean and he knelt down and picked her up.

Green shields appeared behind and to the left and right of Phantom pushing soldiers back. As Robin watched the hooded teen gestured with Starfire in his arms, Robin read it as 'come take her.' He moved to Phantom and took hold of his girlfriend knowing that Phantom would protect his. He carried her to the couched, cleared by Cyborg and BB of the ghosts.

A short way behind the couch a long space of swirling green appeared from thin air followed immediately by the familiar deep blue cloak of their team's dark supernatural expert and the ghost Wulf. The sorceress glanced around quickly her eyes pausing over Phantom. Robin flicked his fingers and Raven, the wolf ghost lumbering behind her.

His team followed what they knew he wanted and formed a defensive posture around the couch. Robin observed coldly as the ghost soldiers backed off and the white clad ghost floated up through the floor. The leader had his arms crossed over his powerful chest and a sneering grin graced his white face.

* * *

For a second nothing happened. Then . . . an explosion and Danny was tossed up, crashing into the ceiling before tumbling to the floor. Trace amounts of ectoplasm clung to his singed shirt but most had been vaporized in the blast. Danny picked himself up and brushed dust from both the ceiling and flow off of his clothing.

He looked around, checking on the damage. Wulf was looking at him with pained eyes, the device hadn't been destroyed. The blast had been focussed outward when the weapon had exploded and at the most the device on Wulf, in Wulf was blackened. He sighed, glancing at Raven; she was still struggling with the shield, and looking at him through half-lidded eyes.

Danny made the sign for 'just a little longer' with two of his fingers. Raven nodded and turned her head back, closing her eyes and focussing fully on the barrier. The halfa quickly moved over to Wulf and pressed one hand, his left, on the top of the device and the other on its side. He took a deep breath, and reached for the ghostly side of himself.

He grabbed hold of as much of the energy within him he could while not changed and pushed it through his arms. Briefly his palms lit up before the summoned ectoplasm travelled from his hands through his skin and into the device.

An instant after it left and entered the device the coils lit up and began to fry more of Wulf's skin and fur. The intensity of the power increased at a rapid but steady rate, the glow growing brighter and brighter; the excruciating shrieks of Danny's friend growing louder. Then nothing; the device stopped, the glow faded along with Wulf's screaming howls.

Some electrical sparking sounds reached Danny's ears from within the ghost proofed alloy shell. The device sputtered and the coils relaxed their grip, the whole thing detached itself from Wulf. Danny grinned as he lifted the metal shell containing the electrical and computer components off of the fugitive ghost and tossed it aside. The tentacles trailed behind the device.

Danny jumped in action quickly, unclasping the Spectre Deflectors from the bed frame. Wulf sat up and flexed his back and arms. The halfa smiled as his friend revelled in the relief from pain, even if mild soreness was present.

"Wulf listen to me a second. Get Rae out of here. She doesn't know about Phantom and me yet." Danny whispered in Wulf's ear. "Take her into the zone and get her upstairs with the others. I'll handle Walker."

"Kiam vi . . . wish . . . dankos vin, mia amiko pro liberigado mi de la . . . pain. Mi forricevos la . . .Rae . . . el inheritabilityas ŝi estos sekura kun mi."

Danny nodded solemnly, "Dankon, amiko."

Danny stood and stepped to the side. Wulf crept forward nearing Raven. Luckily the sorceress was so engrossed in holding strong in her efforts to keep Walker at bay she never noticed Wulf until it was too late.

Watching Wulf swoop in on her and grab her with one burly scarred arm while clawing a portal into the Ghost Zone, Danny couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. Through the connection he could feel her surprise at the sudden movement and it made him feel bad for taking advantage of her of help to keep his secret. He knew deep down that she would know eventually; it was absolutely certain.

He caught her eye as she was absorbed into the green oval. Her expression was one he could read; almost knowing. That was very troubling. Danny had no idea what to think now but there was a feeling that was making him nervous.

The black barrier had faded Danny had better things to think about now that the disturbing gleam in Raven's eyes. Walker strode through the gaping hole that used to be the door. Though the portal Wulf had not closed and there was time for Danny to dive through it if he hurried, the young man did not move. Instead he faced one of his many nemeses and changed from Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom.

Walker grinned. Danny smirked at him and materialized in front of the suited ghost, seeming to teleport and drove his fist up into the Warden's jaw with a vicious uppercut. The ghost deepened the dent in the ceiling that Danny had created with his exploding piece of ghost weaponry. Walker pushed himself off the roof and floated down back to the floor.

Walker rubbed his jaw, "No banter anymore punk? Good, unauthorized speaking was a violation of the rules."

Danny's eyes narrowed as he caught a straight jab from Walker, though the blow did force the younger ghost back a few paces. His grip tightened on the thick wrist and Danny stepped forward twisting and dragging the Warden around with him, tossing him back through the hole and into the wall on the other side of the hallway.

Danny looked after him before going intangible and floating through walls going to a room beneath the Ops Center so he could ambush several of Walker's goons. The halfa rose up and through the ceiling.

* * *

Her eyes were down just barely being open; squinting through her eyelids. The exertion of holding a shield like this was incredibly difficult with the white suited ghost crashing against it and blasting it. Raven would not fail though. She would not give in to the ghosts. There was a feeling in her that Danny getting that device off the creature named Wulf was of dire importance.

She pushed out the little energy she could spare then notice movement out of the corner of her eye and suddenly she was picked up by a large mostly hairy arm. Raven held the shield for as long before only just catching a glimpse of Danny. A thought struck her; it was exceedingly suspicious that Danny, a human with seemingly nothing extraordinary that would help him survive against the ghost called Walker. When he caught her eye he seemed uncomfortable but it was only a small flash before Raven felt them passing through a portal of some sort.

Wulf let her go. She put some small distance between her and the creature and took the chance to look around. She was, in spite of herself, awed. The dimension, the Ghost Zone, she assumed was both breathtaking and intimidating. It went on in an endless green sea of whirling and surging hues. It was dead, though she hated to use such a word for a place where ghosts dwelled that was the best word; there was nothing, no sign of any ghost or creature moving within the vast expanse. There were doors, dozens of them, maybe hundreds scattered haphazardly throughout. Small islands of green rock varying in size floated about as well.

She couldn't help but wonder if Phantom lived in this place. Somehow she doubted it; her suspicions about Danny and Danny seemed to coalescing into what was really going on. Fenton and Phantom were connected, there was something between them; friendship, partnership, something. She would find out if only so she could help Phantom as he had helped her those months ago.

Wulf tapped her shoulder with a long green claw. She turned, watching the ghost draw an oval in the space in front of him and then poke a claw through its center. Raven nodded understanding that Wulf was going to take them back to the material plane.

His claws became limbed in green energy and he cut a slit into the fabric of the Ghost Zone. Through it the Ops Center of the Titan Tower was visible as if gazing out a window of green glass. Wulf stepped aside so Raven pulled up her hood and floated into the long cut. Her face never changed when the assaulting cold that had vanished in the Ghost Zone returned for but an instant before the wall of gentler cool replaced it. Raven said not a word as she moved to where she knew Robin would want her.

Even with her, and even his own, misgivings of the effectiveness he had as a leader he still was the leader and she followed him. She trusted Robin, trusted the whole team with her life but that didn't mean she didn't have doubts. Raven knew that Robin had had issues with leading the team, still had issues leading the team. He was an effective warrior and very skilled in what he did in that respect. However, the Boy Wonder just did not fit into the role of leader, not anymore; at least in her eyes.

Raven immediately noticed that Phantom was there. Strange how he always showed up once Fenton had been abandoned or had disappeared. She watched him, gazing into the shadowed fathoms of his hood. Her eyes met his green ones and she could sense the smirk there. Her eyes narrowed at that, why would Phantom be smirking, especially considering the circumstances of their last parting?

* * *

Danny's smirk was almost involuntary. He knew that Raven wouldn't know why he was smirking if she could see it through the darkness of his hood and for the life of him he couldn't figure it out either. It was Phantom; he became almost another person as Phantom. Of course he had many sides depending on the circumstance of the moment, he best guess was just that it was a way for him to deal with his loss, being so many personalities.

Turning to look at the other events in the room Danny knew he had screwed up badly and mentally he was cursing himself. _Of course! Figures that would happen,_ he was watching Starfire's face. Robin gently brushed aside her hair. The team certainly wouldn't be happy with Danny _Fenton_ when he returned. They probably weren't very happy with _Phantom_ right now.

Walker appeared and Danny situated himself in front of the Titans adopting a commanding posture. The pawn that the Warden had become would cause no more harm to those who had taken him in. Danny's gloved hands tightened into fists, straining the material.

Robin walked up and stood beside him. "What happens now Phantom?"

"You fight or I lead them away and face them alone. That team follows you, but regardless of your choice I have to fight them. Walker rarely makes the first move once a battle begins, he will wait then react."

"We'll fight but I want to know what's going on after, Phantom. My team and I are involved in this now and clearly this more large scale than we originally thought. "

" . . . Fine. Keep the minions busy, I am taking Walker but do not leave Starfire alone."

Robin nodded and returned to his team. Just from the look in his eyes knew they were fighting. Robin took up position next to Starfire and the rest of the team moved into offensive positions behind Danny. Wulf growled ominously in the back. The halfa had a feeling that they would be following his lead; after all they had no real experience what so ever in ghost battle.

His closed, Danny took a deep breath and let it out focussing ectoplasm. His eyes snapped open and two blue beams of cryoplasm lanced into Walker driving him clean through the window and outside. The ghost boy followed close behind with the Titans picking targets among the soldiers. The white cloaked figure of Danny Phantom burst out into the morning sunlight.

* * *

**_A/N: by the way the next chapter will be out soon enough. I am really falling back into the ideas i had for this story. And if anyone can recommend a good read in Danny Phantom or Teen Titans or both, I would appreciate it. Reading one of the stories was actually what got me back into this story. And _****_the esperanto in this is just an online translation from (no idea how accurate that is) and for the most part is translated in the thoughts of the characters, namely Danny_**. R&R

**_ Sorry for the wait again _**


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